Lucario's Tale
by Tesla2251
Summary: Reposted Story Original Author: pokemonrox7 Lucario always thought of himself as a weak fighter. His trainer always told him so. But with the help of another trainer from Pallet Town and his Pokémon family, the Aura Pokémon will become the strong fighter he was meant to be and find where he truly belongs. Rated T for minor blood.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, first of all I want to be clear: I AM NOT THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR OF THIS FANFICTION. That honor goes to pokemonrox7 for this story. It was one of my favorite fanfictions and I was crushed when I saw he had decided to take down all of his writings as he was moving on to things outside of fan fiction. But I got in contact with him and managed to save his best writing. And with his permission I'm reposting his story here on my account. Please note besides re-formatting and cleaning up lines of dialog, this is still the same story.**

_"__Selfless giving is the art of living._" – Frederic Lenz

.

"This isn't a bad place to spend a few days, huh buddy?" Ash said, looking around at his surroundings.

"_Pika Pika Cha Pi Kachu Pikapi _(Yeah, it looks really great Ash,)" Pikachu replied as he gazed upon the scenery.

They were in one of the biggest known forests in the Sinnoh region, Yuju Forest. Right now they were working their way through said forest because it was the most direct route to Mt Corenet.

They were heading to Mt Corenet to train like they never trained before. They had suffered a loss against Paul a month and a half ago and they had left everything behind except Ash's Pokémon. Some may have said that this idea was really stupid. But Ash's definition of stupid never really matched up with anyone else's. However, today was a day that differed greatly from the month and a half that they started their journey.

The trek continued in silence as the duo looked around. The forest wasn't too dense, but would require more than a couple of days to bypass. Not that it mattered. This wasn't only the biggest forest, but also the most beautiful. The trees, although naturally grown, looked stunning, as if they were crafted and tended to by some of the world's greatest topiarists. They of course weren't modified by the tree specialists, but they looked very healthy and grew very well.

The silence was often a companion, travelling with the duo before something made a sound, be it Starlys chirping or the leaves of the trees rustling. It was quite relaxing really, being able to just absorb nature as it was at peace around them. The gentle winds caressing their faces, the occasional Pokémon or two that jumped out of the bushes, often playing, the yells of terror and pain and... wait, what?

Ash and Pikachu were suddenly drawn out of their peaceful stroll as the cries were heard by both of them. "Somebody needs help!"

"Let's go buddy!" Ash said to Pikachu. Pikachu was, of course, not hesitant to help whoever needed it.

Ash quickly sprinted to wherever the sound was coming from, Pikachu tensing himself, preparing for battle if one were to occur. Ash jumped over a bush and continued running, batting branches out of the way when they appeared in front of his face.

With every push of his legs, the cries grew louder. This obviously made Ash and Pikachu very anxious, but they still pushed on, for they would need a focused mind to be able to help out whoever was in trouble, and judging by the voice and some growling that had suddenly become audible, it was DEEP trouble.

Ash batted one last branch out of his way and was horrified at what he and Pikachu saw.

In a clearing, in front of a large tree, was a pack of at least six Houndoom all snapping their jaws and slashing their claws at the being in the center. Needless to say, Ash and Pikachu were furious that a bunch of Houndoom had ganged up against one being that was probably helpless against the attacks, hence the cries of pain.

Not being able to witness this act of maliciousness any longer, Ash and Pikachu stepped into the clearing.

"Hey!" Ash called to the pack of Houndoom. All six of them turned around to face the intruder who possessed the voice. Although all of them were a bit surprised that a human had come across their path, they stood firm, hardly faltered and continued growling in an attempt to try to dissuade Ash and Pikachu from their goal of rescuing the soul trapped in the Houndooms wrath.

The lone being also heard Ash's outburst.

_"W-Who is that? Is that you, Master? No, that's not your voice, it's someone else's... "_ Thought the victim of the canine assault before finally succumbing to his wounds and fainting.

Pikachu jumped off Ash's shoulder and faced the pack, cheeks sparking. He and Ash looked at each other and nodded.

"Alright Pikachu, let's show them what they're up against!" Ash called.

"_Cha_ (Yeah!)" Pikachu agreed.

The sparks intensified on Pikachu's red pouches and electrical energy started to dance around the mouse's body. Both Ash and Pikachu smiled.

"Do it..."

* * *

Meanwhile, in another part of the Yuju forest, a lone trainer was leaning against a tree. This trainer had a suave-looking blonde hairstyle, green eyes and tan skin. He wore a red shirt with a black leather vest placed over it, brown trousers with rips in them and wore shoes and gloves a deep black color.

"'Nother boring day in the Yuju Forest," the trainer complained with a slight accent. "I'd pay to get out of this place, or at least see somethin' worth seein'," he said.

Turns out, this guy got his wish almost immediately.

A huge bolt of lightning suddenly shot up into the sky a fair distance away, shocking (no pun intended) the trainer. He fell over as he gazed at the pillar of electricity. Sure it looked small, maybe about a pencil width across, but he was two days walking from that pillar so the area where it was must've been massive.

"What the!? Where's that coming from!?" he cried.

It seemed to take forever for the energy to dissipate. Static electricity resonated through the air and tingled the body of the stupefied trainer. He shivered as the sensations coursed through his body.

"I-It must be a legendary! No other Pokémon could've fired an attack like that!" he said, standing up. He dusted himself off and looked to the sky. "I'm strong, but I'm nothin' against a legendary. Gotta get outta this forest before that Pokémon comes for Dominic Stew!"

He picked up his bag but since it was unzipped, a bunch of stuff fell out, it being a very weak bag.

"Aw, you gotta be kiddin' me!" Dominic said as he started to pack his belongings back in.

He suddenly stopped as his eyes spotted a singular empty pokeball among the items. He picked it up and examined it. One thought came to his mind.

_"Did I do the right thing?"_

Suddenly, a grin appeared on his face. "Of course, I did the right thing! That weakling didn't deserve bein' my Pokémon," he reassured himself. He packed the last item into his bag and slung it on his back, proceeding to get some distance before nightfall.

* * *

The Houndoom looked in horror at the immense power being displayed. They couldn't comprehend this, it was incredible. Ash was looking onward and had his arms folded as he watched the reaction of the Houndoom and Pikachu's output of energy. Ash's face was calm yet he was feeling slightly worried. Any action that Pikachu performed that went above half of his full potential, which was being displayed right now was capable of harming the electric type. Ash could only hope that his starter would be all right.

Eventually, the magnitude of electrical power began to cease and most of the volts began to vanish. Pikachu started to visibly relax as the flow of power gradually disappeared. The attack wasn't meant to go near the group of Houndoom. If it did, it might've hurt the victim even more. It was merely for intimidating the group. It did a pretty darn good job of it too. The six Houndooms took a step backward in in fear from the one who could probably turn them into dust at his trainer's word. Of course, Ash and Pikachu knew they would never do that, but the dark canines didn't.

And at that moment, a very wise choice was made.

All the Houndoom turned around and bolted away from the duo yapping in fear of their lives. They didn't scatter, for it was safer to stay together. As one unit, they leapt over a series of bushes as fast as they could. Ash and Pikachu grinned.

"That'll teach them to gang up on someone. You okay buddy?" Ash said to his partner.

"_Pika Cha Pikapi Cha Pika Pikachu Chu Chupi _(Never better Ash. Guess training is starting to pay off,)" Pikachu said while stretching a bit.

Ash smiled, but then remembered why exactly Pikachu's Thunderbolt was necessary.

"We need to check out the victim!" Ash cried.

Pikachu nodded at Ash's reasoning. They both dashed over to the still being that was in the center of the onslaught to check what kind of condition it was in.

What they saw shocked them a lot.

Unconscious and curled up in a ball, which was obviously a means of self-defense, was a Lucario, badly damaged. There were numerous injuries marring the Lucario's body. On the left leg was a deep gash that had been created by a powerful Slash attack. Blood was seeping out at an alarmingly fast rate. Multiple other cuts were distributed throughout the body. Upon the Lucario's right arm was a horrific bite wound that had blood coming from it, coating some of the arm in a dark crimson red. Blood also trickled down the corner of Lucario's mouth, leaving a trail. A cut had come dangerously close to the Pokémon's right eye. And streaming from the eyes were tears of pain that had generated when the onslaught began.

It was lucky that Ash nor Pikachu fainted at the sight of these nightmarish injuries. Both saw maybe a scrape or a bruise every once in a while, nothing ever got to this level. The duo could not believe that this kind of brutality could even exist. A mix of emotions ran through the two. Horror, at the wounds. Anger, at the Houndoom for causing them.

And panic, at the fact that the Aura Pokémon currently had a very slim chance of surviving.

Ash hurriedly took of his bag, opened it and dug around for anything that could help.

They were too far away from a Pokémon Center to even think of bringing Lucario to one, and even if they did moving the Pokémon's body would prove too hazardous and possibly cause more damage.

Ash kneeled down and took out some bandages and some Hyper Potion, a potion that could heal the most grievous of wounds. Ash had received it as a reward for helping a man named Andrew get his Nosepass back from some Pokémon Poachers.

He quickly sprayed some of the healing potion onto the small cuts and scratches then wrapped them up with bandages to prevent any infections that could potentially harm Lucario more. However, the bite mark and the gash were very large injuries and would require some more healing then the other wounds. The Hyper Potion was almost empty after being applied to all the other wounds. In desperation, Ash sprayed what was left on the biggest wounds. Obviously, it wasn't enough as it ran out. It was only about a quarter full after being used on some of Ash's other Pokémon, so there wasn't much to begin with.

Ash and Pikachu were now really scared as the chances of the Pokémon in front of them surviving were now really slim indeed. They didn't have anything else that could heal the extreme injuries. Both Ash and Pikachu racked their brains trying to see if they could think of a solution. "That's it!" Ash suddenly cried as he once again dug into his backpack and retrieved a pokeball. Pikachu was confused. Ash didn't have any Pokémon that knew any healing moves that affected others. None except...

Ash tossed the pokeball up in the air. The ball split open and a white light burst out, eventually manifesting into a Pokémon.

However, before Ash could inform the Pokémon of what was going on, he was then immediately flattened.

"_Bay Bayleefbay Bay Bayleef _(Hi Ash, what's up?)" The energetic Pokémon asked.

Bayleef, once a Chikorita, was a lot more affectionate to Ash then most of his other Pokémon. She was a brilliant grass type and a great friend. Her only flaw however (not to her but to others) was the fact that nearly every time she came out of her pokeball, she found it imperative to give her trainer a Body Slam greeting. Bayleef nuzzled Ash enthusiastically.

"_Bay Bayleefbay Bayleef Leef Bayle-_ (So, Ash, where are we going toda-)" Bayleef suddenly cut herself off as she realized something odd.

Normally, whenever Bayleef did this, Ash might groan in pain a bit, but soon after, he was smiling and laughing, brightening everyone's day. However, this time, no signs of amusement was found. Bayleef could instantly tell that something was wrong and inwardly hoped that she had done nothing to upset her trainer.

"_B-Bayleefbay Bay Bayleef?_ (A-Ash, what's wrong?)" She asked. Ash then looked Bayleef in the eye.

"You've should never see something this horrible Bayleef, and if it were possible, I'd like to keep it that way, but I need you to help me with something," Ash said, looking over to Lucario's direction.

Bayleef followed Ash's line of sight and saw the most horrific thing she had seen since the time Team Rocket sent Arbok and Victreebel to attack Ash, the very thing that had sparked her evolution. Looking at the poor Aura Pokémon, Bayleef realized what Ash wanted.

"_Bay Bay Leef Bayleef Bay Bayleefbay? _(You want me to use Aromatherapy, right Ash?)" Bayleef asked.

Ash nodded at his Pokémon's reasoning. Bayleef then hopped off Ash and looked back at Lucario.

"_Bay Bayleef Bay Bay Leef Bay Bayleef_ (But Aromatherapy doesn't heal that much,)" Bayleef said.

"_Pika Cha Pikachu Chu Pi Pikachupi Pikapi_ (Yeah, it's only really useful when curing status effects like burns or poison,)" Pikachu continued.

Ash looked at Lucario's wounds. Blood was flowing from both.

"As long as it does something, I'll take it. Stopping the blood flow would be good enough. Bayleef, since you're the only one on the team that can heal others in some way, you need to try!" Ash cried.

Bayleef was a bit shocked at the sudden urgency in Ash's voice, but she knew that he was just worried for Lucario. The grass type nodded and made her way over to the Aura Pokémon.

She began to lower her head to the ground, eyes closed in concentration, and the whole area was bathed in silence. The leaf on her head slowly began to wave, like a flag flapping in the wind. And as it did, a light pink, sparkling mist emanated from it. The mist then traversed the air over to Lucario's body. The mystical aroma then covered Lucario's still form, hovering around the Pokémon.

Ash, Pikachu and Bayleef were super relieved to see the worst of Lucario's wounds close up a bit, stopping the blood flow and knitting the separated flesh together, not completely, but enough to at least wrap bandages around them without too much blood soaking through. With a fulfilled purpose, the mist began to slowly vanish from existence.

Ash, not wanting to waste the only chance they had, quickly and carefully wrapped the remainders of Lucario's wounds in bandages. "That should do. Thanks a lot Bayleef, if it weren't for you, Lucario would have been as good as dead," Ash praised.

Bayleef smiled at her trainer's praise. Had they not of had a dying Pokémon on their hands a few moments ago, Bayleef would've had a Body Slam celebration for a certain trainer. So she just stuck with a content grin.

Ash's face returned to a frown. "Still, we need to get Lucario out of here in case those Houndoom come back. I doubt that they will, but it's worth taking precaution for," Ash said.

Pikachu and Bayleef nodded at this logic. However they were wary. Was Lucario able to be moved in his condition? Sure, the situation was a lot better now as Lucario was undoubtedly going to live. But was it safe enough? Ash however, thought that this was a risk that they were going to take.

Ash then reached into his bag again and retrieved another pokeball and just like Bayleef's, tossed it up into the air, releasing the Pokémon.

One of the most regal-like and dazzling Pokémon in Ash's team emerged from the light and flapped her huge wings to stay a few meters above the ground. "Hey Pidgeot," Ash greeted.

"_Pidgeot Pidgegepidge Geot Pid- _(Hello Ash, what's happenin-)" She stopped in shock as she noticed the still form of a Pokémon on the ground, wrapped in numerous bandages. "I'll tell you what happened later Pidgeot, but right now we need to relocate. Can you see if you can find a space away from here, but not too far away? If we move Lucario any more then we need to, we'll risk even more injury," Ash said.

Pidgeot nodded, very willing to help out, and instantly took off to the skies.

"I hope she finds something soon...," Ash said in a worried tone.

Five minutes later, they were still waiting on Pidgeot to find something. It came to a point where everyone was actually worried of the fact that Pidgeot might've encountered something bad.

* * *

"Alright birdy, you're mine!" Dominic yelled as he threw an empty pokeball at a strong and healthy looking Pidgeot. The Bird Pokémon had no need to dodge the capturing device as pokeballs didn't work on already captured Pokémon. Pidgeot had only come down here to check if this was a sufficient place to bring the Lucario to. But the bird then remembered that Ash had told her to find a place that was close. Sure this was only five minutes away but only to her.

She was flying with no obstacles in her way at a speed of Mach 2. There was no doubt that she could traverse two days' worth of walking in about 5 minutes. She was about to turn back and find somewhere closer, but before she could, some trainer had stumbled upon the clearing and was now attempting to capture her. Pidgeot had decided that it was just easier to let the trainer know that she already had a trainer, and by a glance, one that was much better than this one.

As the red and white sphere flew through the air, Dominic began to feel skeptical. _"This Pokémon looks strong. So why isn't it makin' any effort to dodge? Strong Pokémon are usually too proud to let themselves be captured without a fight,"_ he thought.

As the ball hit Pidgeot's side, a red glow engulfed her. Suddenly, the red glow dissipated and the ball was sent flying back to Dominic.

"Wha-" Dominic gasped as he caught the ball.

Pidgeot, having proved her point without even saying anything, then took off, away from the stupefied trainer. Dominic just stood in one spot for some time, trying to process what had happened.

"Must...Must have had a trainer," he deduced as he started to make his way from the area. "That's a shame..."

* * *

Ash was pacing back and forth, hoping that one of his oldest and reliable Pokémon was alright. Ash gritted his teeth in frustration. "Rghhh, I can't take it anymore!" he yelled making Bayleef and Pikachu jump. Ash knew it was wrong to doubt his Pokémon but in an unfamiliar place, where anything could happen if they didn't know about it, was making Ash very anxious. In fact, he was just about to send Staraptor out to search for Pidgeot when he suddenly heard a screech. Ash's face instantly washed over with relief. He looked above to see Pidgeot, safe and well. The bird landed in front of everyone. "Pidgeot! I'm so glad you're okay!" Ash said.

The bird preened her feathers, a smile on her beak. "_Pidge Pidgeot Pidgeotpidge Pidgeot Pidgeot Pidge _(Aw, come on Ash. Don't tell me that you were worried)," she said.

Ash chuckled. "Anyway, did you find anything?" Ash asked. Pidgeot nodded. "_Pidgeot Geot Pidge Geotpidge Pidgeot_ (Yeah, I found a good place on my way back here. Follow me,)" she said as she flapped her big wings to reach an altitude of a few meters off the ground. "Okay, just give me a second," Ash said.

Ash then slid his arms underneath Lucario's back and legs and with great care, lifted the Pokémon off the ground. He then shifted Lucario's position a little to provide comfort and to prevent any further injury.

(Yes I know that this way of carrying someone is called a "Bridal Carry" but that sounds really weird to me so I'm not calling it that.)

Once Lucario had been secured safely in Ash's arms, Pidgeot began to lead everyone to this place that she had found.

On the way, Ash kept throwing worried glances at the Pokémon in his arms. Just because Lucario would survive didn't mean that any trauma wouldn't be left behind.

Being attacked by six Houndoom that didn't care whether you could fight back or not would do that to you. Even now, Lucario was subconsciously letting out small whimpers making the group's hearts almost break in pity.

"_Don't worry Lucario, we'll do everything we can, we promise,_" Ash thought.

About ten minutes of walking had transpired, and impatience was starting to spread.

"Hey Pidgeot, how long 'till we reach this place?" Ash asked.

"_Pidge Pidgeot Geot Pidgepidge_ (Don't worry, we're nearly there Ash,)" Pidgeot reassured.

True to her word, the tunnel of trees they were travelling through soon ended giving everyone an eyeful of a stunning sight. The clearing was of a great size and looked marvelous. It had soft grass and some of the land was elevated higher than other portions of the land as if Arceus himself was focused in not making this land perfect but still a marvel to any eye. The clearing even had a big crystal blue lake that had different types of water Pokémon swimming in it. And on one of the elevated pieces of earth there was something that they couldn't believe, an Oran Berry tree full of ripe berries.

"_An Oran Berry tree, that'll come in handy,_" Ash thought.

Speaking of trees, there were about four large ones spread around the area.

"As everyone took in the sights, Ash decided to break the silence.

"Y-You really outdid yourself this time Pidgeot," Ash said as he stroked the Pidgeot's crest, causing the bird to lean into the touch and chirp in content as Ash's petting gave the Pidgeot great pleasure.

"_Pidge Pidge Pidgepidge_ (You're welcome Ash,)" Pidgeot replied.

Ash then moved to the center of the clearing and placed Lucario down with extreme care. He then got his sleeping bag from his backpack and placed it down on the ground, flat. After doing this, he slowly moved the Aura Pokémon on it. The grass may had been soft, but Lucario would need an actual thing to lay on to ensure full recovery. Ash then took off his vest and folded it up. After doing this, he lifted up Lucario's head slightly and placed the vest under. This made the vest act as a makeshift pillow to provide some more comfort to Lucario.

Ash then rubbed his chin in thought. He didn't have any kind of fabric large enough to act as a blanket. His eyes widened in realization, as he suddenly remembered that he actually did have something like that.

Ash reached into his bag and pulled out some something black and eerie, a cloak that he'd just gotten a week before. Ash wasn't one that usually wanted to hide his face. He was never really an antisocial person.

However, to maintain uninterrupted training and near perfect discretion, he deduced that the cloak needed to be donned, no matter what. He had, however, taken the cloak off for now since the forest was a private and large place where it was highly unlikely that someone could come across his path. Right now though, the cloak had another use.

Ash unfolded the black garb and gently placed it over Lucario. He then stood up, satisfied that Lucario was in the best way possible at the given time.

Ash then sat down next to the Pokémon, having every intention of staying by Lucario's side, just like he did for Charizard when the fire type was frozen by Poliwrath. This led to Charizard finally reclaiming his loyalty to the Pallet native. Lucario still looked fretful, so Ash reached out and gently caressed the Pokémon's head. Ash's touch was like magic to any Pokémon that had a problem, and this moment proved it as Lucario's expression soon changed from upset to relaxed. Ash didn't stop until he was sure that Lucario was now having a peaceful rest.

_"You've sure had it rough, haven't you?"_ Ash thought.

Pikachu then ran up to Ash. "_Pi Pikapi..._ (Hey Ash...,)" Pikachu began. Ash turned to his starter.

"Yeah buddy?" he asked.

"_Pika Cha Pikachu Pikapika Chu Kachu? _(Do you think that maybe you could let everyone else out too?) the electric type asked.

Ash smiled at this question. "You know what, yeah that's a great idea Pikachu, although...," Ash trailed off as he looked back at Lucario. "It's too bad that we couldn't do it under different circumstances."

He finished as he went to retrieve the rest of his pokeballs.

He unzipped his bag and took out a heaping of pokeballs that contained his beloved Pokémon. One by one, he tossed them up into the air calling upon his Pokémon friends. Before long, the clearing was littered with all of Ash's Pokémon. Every single one stood to attention...oh wait.

Ash was crushed from above by his enthusiastic and friendly Gliscor, and bitten on the head by his Gible who, well...really liked to bite stuff.

"AAAAAHHH, C'MON GUYS! NOW'S NOT THE TIME!" Ash cried as the two Pokémon displayed their interpretation of affection to Ash.

However, they were confused a bit when Ash said "Now's not the time." Normally, at any time, Ash didn't mind too much when either took their actions of affection, so why now? Both the Pokémon got their answer when their vision crossed a jackal-like Pokémon, covered in bandages and pieces of fur stained red. Gliscor and Gible hurriedly stumbled off Ash when they saw the sight. All of the other Pokémon looked to where the two Pokémon were looking, only to be shocked beyond belief. In front of them was a Lucario that had obviously gone through a lot if the bandages covering multiple wounds had anything to say about it.

"_B-B-Bulbabulb Saur Bulsar Bulbasaur?_ (A-A-Ash, what happened to that Pokémon?)" Bulbasaur timidly asked, scared of the blood and the wounds that had been tended to by Ash.

The Seed Pokémon had never seen injuries like these before, and was actually terrified by wondering just how much worse Lucario would've ended up if Ash hadn't stepped in which, he assumed, was exactly what happened. All of the other Pokémon shared Bulbasaur's shock and fear.

"Listen everyone...," Ash started. The Pokémon realized that Ash was talking to them and paid attention. "Me and Pikachu found this Lucario being attacked by a pack of Houndoom. We intervened and stopped the attack, and I patched up Lucario to the best of my ability, with Bayleef's help of course," Ash explained. Bayleef beamed at that last part. Ash continued. "This guy is gonna live, but we'll need to be gentle when Lucario wakes up. We don't need him running off and hurting himself more 'kay guys?" Ash finished. All the Pokémon nodded at Ash's reasoning.

"Now, unrelated to the last topic, Pidgeot found us this nice clearing, so I think that we can all relax here for a while. I'll watch over Lucario, you guys can go and play around and stuff."

Everyone was unsure about this. They didn't really want to leave their trainer and best friend alone with the responsibility of taking care of the Aura Pokémon while they were having fun.

"Don't worry guys, I'll be fine. Go have some fun," Ash said with a grin. The Pokémon finally resented and spread throughout the clearing.

All of Ash's water types were all too happy to jump into the lake and start splashing each other while the flying types were content with roosting in the trees. Most of the other Pokémon either started to chase each other in a game of tag or just seeked shade under the trees, except Bulbasaur, for an obvious reason. Whenever Heracross would get the chance, he would hide in the shade and attempt to ambush Bulbasaur and suck the pollen out of his bulb, which always ended up with a strong Vine Whip from the annoyed Pokémon. Any other Pokémon just decided to have a nap in the sunshine.

Unsurprisingly, Snorlax was the first to participate in this activity.

Ash smiled as he saw all his Pokémon having a good time. He thought himself truly lucky to have such invaluable, irreplaceable friends. Friends that he wouldn't trade for anything, He then looked back at Lucario, who was, to Ash's relief, still sleeping peacefully.

Ash then thought back to when he found Lucario being attacked. It was rather odd.

Why would a pack of Houndoom attack a practically defenseless Pokémon like Lucario? What was their motive. Cruelty like this easily made Ash's blood boil. Attacking someone weaker than yourself? You'd be a coward. Pikachu's "light show" sure taught them that lesson.

Ash suddenly heard a growl. A stomach growl to be precise. But it wasn't his, for once.

Ash looked over to Lucario. He knew what was going on, although it didn't take a genius to figure it out. "I guess you're hungry, huh?" Ash asked to Lucario even though he knew he wouldn't get an answer. Ash then suddenly remembered the Oran Berry tree that he noticed upon entering the clearing. "I think some Oran Berries are just what Lucario needs now" Ash thought. Even if they had some Oran Berries before, they wouldn't have helped the Aura Pokémon, they could now however.

Ash slowly got up and began to make his way over to the tree that had the ripe, healing berries on their branches. He thought it was really unusual though. Judging by the feel of the earth, one would expect that Oran Berries couldn't grow here. The soil wasn't too dry, but dry enough to raise suspicion on how the particular berries would grow. Ash got his answer when he reached the tree. He found that a small pool of water was on a small ledge above the tree, when it overflowed, the water would drip down and hydrate the plant. Marveling at this unique concept, Ash reminded himself what he was here for.

He kneeled down to the ground and carefully picked a few berries from the tree. ''These should be enough," Ash said to himself, holding the berries in his arms.

Ash started to walk back to Lucario. He knew cooking wasn't his strong suit, but at least Brock had taught him how to make a decent berry mix for healing Pokémon.

He stopped suddenly when the thought of one of his friends entered his mind. Even now, Ash wasn't sure that leaving them without warning was the right thing to do. Brock had helped Ash so much throughout his journey and Dawn always had a good mood that helped to cheer up anyone, unless in a bad situation or her bad hair issues, a frown was rarely seen on Dawn's face. Ash chuckled a bit when he remembered how fussy the girl could be when it came to hair, even resorting to using Piplup's Bubblebeam attack to get rid of bed head. He did miss his friends dearly, but he couldn't go back, not until he and his Pokémon were strong. Stronger than Paul. Heck, maybe until they were as strong as Cynthia just to be realistic. Still, he didn't want to be away that long. Getting up to Cynthia's or even any of the Elite 4's level could take years. Ash couldn't stay away that long. Like it or not, he had friends that relied on him to prove Paul wrong, so getting above his level would be good enough for Ash and his Pokémon. Ash shook these thoughts out of his head and resumed walking back over to Lucario.

Upon reaching him, Ash sat back down and began to prepare the mix. He had a few utensils just for preparing berries, should an opportunity arise for an occasion. An occasion which just so happened to be now. He peeled the berries of their skin and began to chop them up. After that was done, he began to mash the diced berries into mush.

And after a few short minutes the mix was complete. It wasn't very appealing really. To be honest it just looked like a blue paste. But Ash didn't care as long as it helped.

Just then, Ash heard a loud ''_Pikapi Pi Pikachu Pikacha Pikachu!_ (Hey Ash, look what I found!)'' it said. Ash turned around to find Pikachu behind him. What he was holding made Ash smile. In Pikachu's paws was a thick leaved herb that curled outwards at the tips of the leaves.

"Pikachu, that...that's a Revival Herb!" Ash said in awe.

"_Pi Pikachu Chu Pika Pikachu Pi Cha_ (Yep, I found it a little ways off here, further into the forest) Pikachu replied.

Ash raised an eyebrow at this. "Uh, why were you in the forest?" Ash asked. He was glad that they had something to help Lucario even more, but why did Pikachu feel the need to go out to the forest in the first place?

"_Pikachu Pi Pika Pikacha Kachu _(I smelled some Pecha Berries)" Pikachu simply replied.

Ash smiled in response. Pecha Berries were Pikachu's second favorite snack next to ketchup. If he had an opportunity to indulge in either one, he would show no hesitation in becoming his own Pokémon.

Grinning at this fact, he took the rejuvenating herb from Pikachu's paws and began to ground it into a powder. He then added the powder to the berry paste and gave it a few stirs to distribute the powder throughout the mixture.

"There we go," Ash said as he put away the utensils. The mixture still didn't look that impressive but appeal be darned if this concoction would help Lucario. "We'd better see if this stuff works," Ash said.

As much as he hated the need to wake Lucario up, it needed to be done. Ash reached over to Lucario and gently nudged his sleeping form.

"Hey, Lucario?" Ash whispered. However, there was no reaction. "Hey, Lucario?" Ash repeated while continuing to nudge the Pokémon. Even Pikachu helped out by nudging Lucario's arm.

Gradually to the duo's relief, a small moan came from the Aura Pokémon as unconsciousness soon faded from his mind. One of Lucario's eyes cracked open, then the other showing pure red irises and deep black pupils. Before long, Lucario had awakened.

As blurriness danced around Lucario's vision, he eventually noticed two figures at his side.

_"W-Who are you?"_ Lucario asked.

Both Ash and Pikachu were shocked to find a voice inside their heads until they realized that Lucario was using his aura to transmit his thoughts. Ash smiled at Lucario's question.

"Don't worry, we're friends. My name's Ash, and this is my buddy Pikachu," Ash said.

"_Pikachu _(Hi there!)" Pikachu greeted.

"_Ash and Pikachu?_" Lucario repeated. There was still a bit of blurriness clouding his sight, so he blinked a few times to try get rid of it. "_W-What happened?_" he asked. Ash wasn't too sure if he wanted Lucario to be reminded of this, but he had the right to know.

"Well Lucario, Pikachu and I were making our way through this forest when we heard something. When we investigated, we found you, being attacked by a pack of Houndooms," Ash recounted.

Lucario's eyes suddenly opened wide as the horrifying memories suddenly resurfaced.

* * *

He was just standing there, minding his own business, not hurting anyone. His Master had commanded him to wait for him while he looked for some new Pokémon. An hour and a half passed, and Lucario was beginning to worry greatly if something happened to his Master. However, before he could go and search for him, the six Houndoom jumped the Aura Pokémon, claiming that he had stolen the pack's food stash. Before Lucario could say anything, the pack began to attack. Lucario fought back to the best of his ability, but he was quickly and easily overwhelmed. He felt more and more wounds begin to mar his body until it became too much and he collapsed to the ground. Even after showing that there was absolutely no chance in him fighting back, the Houndoom continued their onslaught.

Lucario could do nothing but receive more injuries and cry out as pain resonated through his being. He thought that his life had come to an end as he felt himself begin to lose consciousness. Tears escaped his eyes as he thought this. Just then, all those present heard something, a single word: "Hey!" This word singlehandedly stopped the assault and got the Houndoom to focus on something else. Lucario also heard the voice. It was human, but not his Master's. That was all Lucario could deduce before blacking out.

* * *

As these memories replayed through his head, Lucario suddenly began to panic. His breathing became rapid and his mind raced frantically. Ash and Pikachu were instantly worried.

"L-Lucario!" Ash cried. This was bad and it was going to go to worse if something wasn't done about it. "Lucario, relax, it's in the past now, please calm down!" Ash cried.

These words seemed to have an impact on Lucario as he visibly to calm down. "That's it Lucario, just relax," Ash said. He then started to gently caress the Aura Pokémon's head.

As Lucario felt the soft stroking upon his head, he found himself confused. He didn't think that this felt weird and it didn't hurt. In fact, it was kind of the opposite. It was a calming touch almost like it made all his pain and panic vanish. As said before, Ash's touch was like magic to any kind of Pokémon that was troubled.

Ash then took away his hand. "Are you better now?" Ash asked with a smile. Lucario looked right at Ash. His smile was comforting and his brown eyes were soft and full of hope.

Lucario knew that this trainer was a great person, no doubt. Slowly, his confused expression transformed into a grin of his own.

"_Yeah...,_" he replied.


	2. Chapter 2

_"There is no use whatever trying to help people who do not help themselves. You cannot push anyone up a ladder unless he is willing to climb himself." _– Andrew Carnegie

.

After being introduced to Ash and Pikachu, Lucario then tried to get up. This was a mistake however as his efforts were only met with a strike of pain. "Lucario, you need more rest. Your injuries are really severe," Ash said. Hearing these words. Lucario settled back down and looked at Ash.

"_So, I might regret asking this question, but am I dead?_" Lucario asked. Ash and Pikachu chuckled.

"Nah, but you came really close. If we hadn't come along and patched you up, you would be dead by now," Ash said.

Lucario breathed a sigh of relief, but shivered at the thought of death. Sometimes death could be the greatest burden or the best thing that could happen to someone. No matter if the benefits of the end of a life sounded appealing to some out there, the end of pain, the end of troubles the end of suffering, no one truly wanted to die. They just wanted a second chance that they weren't being given. Lucario, however, was given a second chance.

The Aura Pokémon then took the time to look over his wounds when Ash mentioned "patching Lucario up". He was shocked to find many bandages covering his torso, arms and legs. The Houndoom had done more damage than he thought.

"I know. The state that the Houndoom left you in was really scary. And we were scared that we were going to lose you."

Lucario regained his confused state. "_I don't understand, I've never met you or done anything to help you, so why would you help me?_" Lucario asked. It was at this moment that Ash knew exactly what to say. Something he said a long time ago.

"Do you always need a reason to help someone?"

"_Huh? W-What do you mean?_" Lucario asked.

Ash grinned. "I mean just that Lucario. Whenever I help someone, I usually don't have any reason behind my actions. It's because if someone needs help, I want to help. They may not have helped me, heck sometimes it's just the opposite, but I feel like the best thing a person could have is the knowledge that someone is on their side, giving them a hand when they need it. That's why I helped you Lucario. Because I wanted you to know that we're all on your side. That we'll not stand idly by and watch you get your life taken," Ash said.

Lucario couldn't believe that he was hearing this from someone who he had never seen before. All his life, from Riolu to now, he had never encountered someone so willing to help. A grin grew on Lucario's face of the fact that he had someone like Ash on his side. However...

"_But I do have someone on my side Ash,_" Lucario said, rather awkwardly, seeing that this was the first-time using Ash's name.

"Oh, do you have a trainer?" Ash asked.

"_Yeah, my Master is probably looking for me now,_" Lucario replied. Ash suddenly got a bit skeptical.

"Just out of curiosity, how did you two get separated?" he asked.

Lucario took a deep breath and started to explain. "_My Master had told me wait for him while he looked for some new Pokémon. But after a while, he didn't come back and I started to worry if something happened to him. However before I could go off and start to search for him, the Houndoom then showed up, claimed that I had stolen their food stash and started to attack me. And that's where you came in,_" Lucario recounted.

Ash began to think about this. Why would Lucario's Master leave him there while he went off to search for Pokémon. In fact, that would be the opposite of the best thing to do at that point. A trainer always needed to bring at least one Pokémon for protection. So why leave Lucario behind? Theories danced around his head and left him questions. Suddenly, something in Ash's head snapped. His gaze left Lucario and switched to one of his Pokémon. The Flame Pokémon to be precise.

Charizard was napping under the shade of a tree. As Ash looked at his fire type, his memories of him rewound back to the earliest stages. When Charizard was still a small Charmander, he had belonged to a trainer named Damien. Damien had been the worst trainer Ash had met at the time. He told Charmander to wait on a rock for him to come back when in actuality, Damien never wanted to return for the fire type. When Ash had overheard Damien bragging about this, he had rushed over to Charmander who was being attacked by a flock of Spearow. After fending them off with Pikachu, Ash, along Misty and Brock helped to get Charmander to a Pokémon Center. When Ash had seen that the fire type's flame on his tail almost out, he used his own coat to shield the tiny flame from extinguishing in the downpour.

When he evolved into Charmeleon, he lost his respect for Ash for some reason. This continued after he evolved again into a Charizard to beat an Aerodactyl carrying Ash away. He didn't even want to save his trainer despite all Ash had done for him. The fire type was solely responsible for that near-death experience and he winced whenever he envisioned it.

When Charizard was defeated by the boy with the Poliwrath, he nearly died from the shock of the Ice Beam and from the Water Gun's damage to his tail flame. Ash had stayed up all through the night to take care of Charizard and save his life, despite his actions toward his trainer. And now Charizard was here, being taken care of by the trainer whom he humiliated excessively and was tormented by the fire type's constant Flamethrower attacks. Despite all this, Ash still loved and cared for his faithful companion, and the following morning, he felt his loyalty for Ash return.

Charizard's past was convoluted and troubled, but that was it: the past, not now. However, Ash had noticed something in Charizard's past that he noticed in Lucario's story.

When Damien had left Charmander on that rock, he said that he would come back. A long time passed and he didn't. The same thing happened to Lucario. Ash gasped at this theory. Was this just a repeat of what happened to Charizard? He surely hoped not.

"_Pikapi Pikachu Cha?_ (Ash, what's wrong?)" Pikachu asked, noticing Ash was looking a little strange.

"Uh, n-nothing buddy, don't worry," Ash replied. Ash did his best to shake these thoughts out of his head and sincerely hoped that what he thought of wasn't true.

Suddenly, a growl rang through the air and reminded Ash why he woke Lucario up in the first place.

"Sounds like someone's hungry," Ash chuckled and looked back at Lucario.

Lucario, realizing what Ash meant, giggled and even blushed a little bit in embarrassment.

"_W-Well I haven't had anything to eat for a while,_" Lucario stuttered.

"That's okay, in fact the reason that we woke you up is because you need to eat this," Ash explained, showing Lucario the mix that he made. "It's made out of Oran Berries and a Revival Herb. It should heal you completely," Ash said.

Lucario looked at the mix. Sure it wasn't the best looking, but he trusted Ash that this was going to make him better.

Ash took out a spoon and scooped up some of the mixture. He then held it close to Lucario's mouth. Lucario hesitated for a bit before opening. Lucario found it a bit degrading to be spoon-fed. However, he knew it was for the best seeing that he was far too weak to feed himself. He slowly opened his mouth and let Ash feed him the mix. It wasn't exactly sweet, but it didn't taste horrible either. As he swallowed it, he looked to Ash. The trainer nodded and gave Lucario another spoonful.

Due to Lucario's appetite, the rest was gone in a matter of minutes. After Ash had put away both the spoon and the bowl, he looked at Lucario.

"How do you feel?" Ash asked. Lucario didn't respond for a while. He simply had his eyes closed as if he was concentrating. Suddenly, he spoke.

"_You know what Ash, I think that the mix did what he was supposed to. I think I'm alright now. In fact...,_" Lucario trailed off. In a flash, the cloak was sent flying into the air and where Lucario lay was now an empty space. Before Ash and Pikachu could react, they heard a thudding noise behind them. Turning around they were met with a wonderful sight. Standing tall and proud was Lucario, completely healed. "_I feel great!_"

"That's awesome Lucario, I'm so glad you're better!" Ash cheered.

"_Pika Pika Pikachu Pikacha Chu! _(Yeah, it's awesome that you're alright now!) Pikachu said.

Lucario's sudden outcry of aura telepathy resonated throughout the clearing, getting the attention of all Pokémon present. Relief and joy flooded their souls as they saw Lucario as good as new. Most of the Pokémon rushed over, but others were still content to stay where they were, especially Snorlax.

Lucario's eyes widened as he saw the large amount of Pokémon heading towards their direction. He was cautious and puzzled. This herd didn't exactly look like the type that would stay together. Ash suddenly walked up behind him. The herd stopped as Ash stood up and waited for his input.

Ash grinned. "Everyone..," he began. Lucario was stunned at how well every one of these Pokémon were prepared to listen to any word Ash said. "This is Lucario. He's been separated from his trai- well, Master," Ash said, correcting himself at the word "trainer".

With this news brought to light, all the Pokémon had a sad range of emotions flowing through them. At that very moment, two unnaturally powerful jets of tears came from a certain Pokémon's eyes. All of the Pokémon present, excluding Lucario, had prepared for this and gave Ash's Coal Pokémon some room. Torkoal was an awesome fire type, but his hyper sensitivity was really something that he and Ash needed to work on at some point.

Lucario's eyes widened in confusion and surprise at this strange behavior. He turned to Ash.

"_Uh, Ash, what's up with...?_" Lucario began to ask, but trailed off when he realized that he'd never seen this Pokémon before.

"Oh, Torkoal, yeah, he's a really sensitive soul. Trust me Lucario, this is normal," Ash said with a grin.

"_Really?_" Lucario replied. Ash's grin didn't leave his face.

"Really, he just feels bad for you, everyone does," he replied.

Lucario was moved that all these Pokémon, whom he'd never met, were concerned with his situation. Ash and all his Pokémon were highly trained with a sense of empathy. They could imagine how horrible it would be to be separated from one's trainer. Each and every one hated to be separated from Ash, the one who had helped them through all their troubles and had strived to help them grow stronger in a caring and compassionate way.

"However...," Ash started, regaining the gang's attention. "We're gonna help him reunite with his trainer," Ash finished. All Pokémon present brightened up considerably, Lucario mainly.

"_Y-You'd really do that?_" He asked. Ash looked straight in Lucario's eyes.

"Yeah, we promise. Lucario, my family and I will do anything to get you back to your Master," Ash replied. He had done one of the most powerful things in the world at that moment. He had given his word to a friend.

Lucario's eyes opened wider and he turned back to the pack of Pokémon. Ash had just called all these Pokémon his "family". Didn't he mean battlers or fighters, or at least weapons? That would be according to his Master. This confused Lucario for the umpteenth time. He decided to talk about it to Ash later.

Ash then looked up to the sky and noticed that it was becoming a mix of red, orange and yellow hues and the sun was slowly starting to sink towards the west.

"Aw man, it looks like it's too late to start searching today," Ash said as a frown replaced his grin. Lucario was also deeply upset that they wouldn't be able to start searching for his Master at the moment.

"_B-But, what do we do now?_" Lucario asked, worry in his voice. Ash detected this worry and once again, began to caress Lucario's head. Lucario was once again calmed down by the gentle strokes.

"Don't worry, we'll just camp out here tonight," Ash answered.

Ash then took his hand away, Lucario being calmed, yet a little upset that "Ash's Magic Touch" needed to end so quickly.

"Now, I think the first matter of business is to get you cleaned up," Ash said. And at a glance, anyone could tell that he spoke no lies. Although Lucario's wounds were gone, there were still signs that they were there. Dried blood had stained Lucario's fur and he was still wearing the bandages which were also stained with the crimson liquid. When Ash had mentioned that Lucario needed to get cleaned up, the Pokémon had looked himself over and realized just how bad he looked.

"I can take the bandages off, and you can wash off the blood at the lake," Ash said. Lucario looked at Ash and smiled.

"_That sounds like a plan,_" Lucario replied. Ash then began to unwrap the bandages that once covered some very grievous injuries.

"_So, Ash, these are all your Pokémon?_" Lucario asked as he looked around the clearing to see Ash's Pokémon had once again dispersed across the area.

"Yeah, they're all my good friends, my family," Ash replied as he unwound a series of bandages from Lucario's shoulder that covered the bite wound.

Lucario was about to say something, but decided against it since he didn't really want to face with how he thought Ash would respond. Ash noticed Lucario was thinking about something as he unwrapped the bandages around the leg that had been previously scarred with the deep gash.

"What's up?" Ash asked the Aura Pokémon. This took Lucario by surprise.

"_Oh...uh nothing Ash,_" Lucario answered. Ash was instantly suspicious, then again, pretty much anyone could see that Lucario just stopped himself from saying something. Ash made a mental note to ask Lucario later, for he could easily tell that something was troubling him.

After a few more moments, Ash finished removing the bandages from Lucario's body.

"Alright, now let's get that blood off you," Ash said.

The Aura Pokémon nodded. Ash led Lucario to the lake that held the cool, clear water. Obviously they weren't going to contaminate it with blood. Ash got a bucket out of his bag to Lucario's extreme shock.

"_What the- Ash, how'd you fit something like that in your bag?_" He asked in confusion. Sure it was possible, but Ash would have less space to put more important items in like pokeballs and medicine. Ash chuckled at Lucario's question.

"Well, I need to be prepared for nearly any situation. Besides, I learned from a good human friend of mine, Brock on how to save space in my bag when I need to," Ash answered.

He then went to the lake's edge and scooped out a bucketful of water. He set the now full bucket on the ground and reached into his bag yet again and pulled out a cloth. Ash then dunked the cloth into the bucket and wrung out the excess water. He stood up with the cloth and turned towards Lucario.

"Okay Lucario, this is gonna be a bit cold," Ash warned as he slowly brought the cloth to one of the dried bloodstains upon Lucario's arm.

Lucario shuddered a little bit as the wet cloth began to clean away the blood. Strangely, this didn't feel weird to Lucario, being cleaned by someone who he hadn't even known for a day. It was kinda awkward, but after a few minutes, Lucario had been cleaned off and the slightly ill at ease moment had passed. Ash then looked over Lucario. It was truly wonderful, he looked just like new.

"That's more like it," Ash said.

Lucario looked over himself and was also pleased that he was now back to his usual self. Ash tipped the slightly red water onto the grass and put the bucket back in his bag. By this time, the sun had sunk further to the west and it was becoming prominent that sunset was slowly turning into night.

"Well, it's time to set up camp. We'll need some wood for a fire," Ash said. Just then, he heard Pikachu's voice.

"_Pikachu Pika Cha Pikapi_ (Way ahead of ya Ash)," Pikachu said.

Ash smiled as he saw Pikachu with a bunch of sticks in his arms. Ash grinned.

"Thanks buddy," he replied, as Pikachu handed them to him.

Ash then headed to the center of the clearing, Pikachu and Lucario following suit. The sticks that Pikachu collected would be enough to make a decent fire. Ash then sat down and began to arrange the sticks into a pyramid formation so they would all lean against each other. Lucario watched for a bit before he spoke up.

"_Uh, i-is there anything I can do to help?_" He asked.

Ash thought for a bit before he came up with something. "If you wanna help out Lucario, we're gonna need some rocks to keep the fire contained."

Ash looked around for a bit until he spotted a medium-sized boulder embedded in the ground. Ash pointed to the rock.

"If you can break that up and bring back some rocks, it'd be a great help," Ash said. Lucario nodded and quickly dashed off to the rock Ash pointed towards.

After a few moments, Lucario reached the rock. Deciding to not waste any time, Lucario drew his arm back, preparing for a Force Palm. Ash and Pikachu, as well as some of Ash's other Pokémon, watched in anticipation for the boulder to shatter under the force of the attack. Lucario's palm, covered in a golden aura. The attack finally struck...

...and nothing happened.

Everyone was confused. What had just happened? They had figured that Lucario had been weakened the attack to not overdo it and blow the rock into dust. But when they looked at Lucario, he seemed just as confused as they were. A few moments passed before Lucario shook it off and struck the rock again with another Force Palm. Again...nothing happened. Lucario stepped backward. He may had been dissuaded from using his Force Palm but he had another tactic.

Lucario brought his arms to his side, palms facing parallel to each other. His eyes closed in concentration and the black appendages that were attached to the sides of his head began to levitate. Between his palms formed a radiant sphere of aura, pulsing with life. As Lucario opened his eyes, he thrusted his arms forward, sending the sphere on a path to a collision with the rock. As the sphere hit the rock, something shattered all right.

The sphere suddenly dispersed after a few moments of coming into contact with the rock to the shock of everyone. An attack like Force Palm not destroying a single boulder, that was excusable. However, a powerful attack like Aura Sphere being shrugged off like that, by an inanimate object no less, was that even possible?

Lucario looked at the boulder in shock which then quickly turned to mortification. He sunk to his knees, shame taking over his entire being as he found out that he couldn't even destroy a single rock.

Ash and Pikachu rushed to Lucario's side.

"L-Lucario?" Ash asked, his voice riddled with concern.

"_Pikachu Chu Pika Pika Pikacha? _(Lucario, what's wrong?)" Pikachu asked.

Ash decided to reach out to touch the Aura Pokémon's shoulder to try to comfort him. "Lucario...?" he asked again. His hand made contact with Lucario's shoulder.

Suddenly, Ash felt his body become rigid. He felt his throat seize up and his eyes began to glow a mysterious light teal, turning his eye color from auburn to blue.  
"_Pikapi!_ (Ash!)" Pikachu cried, getting the attention of the other Pokémon who immediately noticed Ash's state and hurried over to him with worry. They, however had no means to help Ash. They could only watch as their trainer and friend went through what was currently happening.

Two auburn eyes opened to be met with what was, for sure one of the most bizarre things he'd ever seen in his life.

A mystifying landscape was set out before Ash. Flickering shades of blue and black, eternally undulating and pulsating. Ash looked all around him. The ground was in the same state, looking so strange that Ash nearly lost his balance and fell over.

"What is this place?" he asked himself.

_"Why am I so weak?..." _

This question reverberated around the area, surprising Ash and even making him jump at the unexpected voice.

"_Why can't I be strong?...,"_ The voice said again.

Ash suddenly realized that this voice belonged to Lucario. He gazed around again, trying to find the Aura Pokémon. It was a fruitless attempt however as there was no sign of him anywhere.

_"Why can't I, just for once, be anything more than dead weight?"_

As this sentence echoed around the place, Ash was shocked. It was awful for anyone to consider themselves dead weight, nothing more than another mouth to feed. Ash wasn't going to have any of that.

"You're lying to yourself Lucario! You're not weak! I know you aren't!" Ash yelled.

This however did nothing. There was no response from Lucario's voice. Ash thought about what exactly was happening when he realized that this place would be inside Lucario's mind if the voices were his thoughts. Thinking this theory true, Ash decided to try to reach out to Lucario with his thoughts instead. He closed his eyes and focused on what he was trying to get across.

"_Lucario...Lucario, can you hear me?_" Ash thought. A few seconds passed and nothing happened. But just as Ash was about to give up on this method...

_"A-Ash? Is that you?"_

Glad that he got a reply, Ash sent a message back.

"_Yeah, it's me. I just touched your shoulder and suddenly I was in this place. I guess it's your mindscape or something,_" Ash replied.

"_So, you heard me-_"

"_Lie to yourself, yes I did,_" Ash interrupted.

"_B-But Ash, it's the truth,_" Lucario retorted.

Ash was shocked at the low level of self-esteem that Lucario had. This couldn't have been because he was attacked by those Houndoom. He was outnumbered and he had a type disadvantage. So what could it had been.

"_Lucario, I want to talk about this more, but not here. Let's get our minds out of this place and speak face to face._"

There was no reply.

"_Please, Lucario...,_" Ash repeated.

Again, there was no reply. Ash was about to send out another plea. But just as he began to send his message, he suddenly noticed something. He looked all around in shock as the landscape began to fade before his eyes. The blue turned to black and the ripples and waves surrounding the area slowly began to dissipate. The more that faded, the darker it got, eventually leaving Ash in a void of nothingness. The remaining, final pulse of blue abruptly and unexpectedly shot through Ash's body, much to his surprise. A mysterious energy coursed through his body. He began to feel eyes grow heavy and his legs suddenly gave away. Gravity did the rest of the work as Ash collapsed onto...the soft grass?

Ash's auburn eyes slowly opened up to see not a place of darkness, but a sky that now possessed the darkness of nighttime, pure green grass he was laying on, and many of his Pokémon looking down on him with worried expressions.

"_Pikapi, Cha Pikachu Pikacha?_ (Ash, are you okay?)" Pikachu asked his trainer and friend.

Ash realized he was lying down on the ground. He blinked his eyes.

"Y-Yeah buddy I'm fine. How long was I out?" he asked.

Pikachu crossed his arms and cocked his head in thought. "_Pi Kachu Pikachu Pika Cha Pi_ (I'd say maybe about five minutes.) Pikachu responded.

Ash began to get up, with difficulty. His experience in Lucario's mindscape had made him kind of disoriented with the land that he was currently on. Nothing was moving around and there were many colors other than blue and black surrounding him. Ash wobbled a bit before putting a hand on his knee to steady himself.

"_Whoa, Lucario's mindscape is a really strange place,_" Ash thought.

Ash's suddenly cut his own thoughts off as he remembered Lucario. With a new vigor, he shot up and looked around. He remembered that when he touched Lucario's shoulder, he was right next to him. However, there was no sign of Lucario at his side. Ash deduced that either his Pokémon had moved him, or Lucario had gone off on his own. Ash took a look around the clearing, trying to see where Lucario was. Ash even began to panic slightly. If Lucario didn't have anyone to help him through whatever it was he was going through, then he might...

Ash mind stopped running these thoughts through his head when he saw a black and blue figure with a cream-colored torso over by the lake. The Fighting type was sitting down at the lake's edge, staring into the water, the moon's reflection above his own.

"_I gotta help him...,_" Ash thought. He looked down at the ground towards Pikachu.

"Do you think that you can get the fire going?" Ash asked his starter.

"_Pika Pikapi Chu Picha Pika Pikachu Pi Pikachu Ka_ (Yeah, sure Ash, I'll need some help from Quilava though,)" The electric type responded.

"Do what you need to," Ash replied.

Ash then began to make his way over to Lucario, his desire to help Lucario growing with every second that passed. He didn't get it. Any Lucario that Ash met on his journey was a confident, dignified and strong Pokémon. However, this Lucario was different. He seemed less serious than others of his kind, and his confidence in himself due to his level of strength was extremely worrying. Lucario was not someone who held himself in a level of high self-esteem. Although something like that could be considered a bad thing, it was even worse to be in the opposite. As Ash neared Lucario, he made a silent vow to help Lucario in any way he possibly could.

Ash reached the point where Lucario was sitting. The Aura Pokémon still hadn't noticed him yet. Either that or he was just ignoring Ash. Whatever it was, Ash was going to make sure that either way would be put to a stop.

"Lucario...?" Ash asked.

"_A-Ash?_" Lucario replied.

Ash sat down next to Lucario. The Pokémon didn't object. A silence came over the two before one of them spoke.

"_You should've left me to die,_" Lucario said, his eyes full of shame.

Ash gasped at what had just been said. "L-Lucario...why? Why do you think yourself as weak? Why do you think that you'd be better off dead?" Ash asked.

Another long silence pierced the area. Ash figured that Lucario either didn't want to answer those questions or that there was a reason as to why he couldn't.

Ash was surprised when he heard a drip sound. He looked at the lake and saw a singular ripple move across the water's surface before finally fading away. He heard another drip sound. Suddenly, Ash regretted asking those questions as he realized what those dripping noises were.

Lucario was crying.

Ash quickly tried to backpedal to spare Lucario any pain he might've suffered from answering any of the questions.

"Uh... I-uh I mean if...umm you-"

"_It's because I AM weak,_" Lucario interrupted. Ash was at a loss for words. However, he didn't need to say any, because Lucario continued.

"_I-I was born weak, and I'll die weak. I've never won a battle, I've never been told I'm strong and I let down everyone around me. I-I mean you and all your Pokémon here have been so nice to me. and the one opportunity to help you out with something and I can't even do that! I can't even break a stupid rock. I'm nothing but a useless Pokémon that makes Magikarp look like Gyarados in comparison,_" Lucario cried.

Before he could go on however, he felt something upon his head. He sighed as he calmed down and instead of getting more agitated, he managed to regain control of himself. What he definitely didn't expect was what was said next.

"Not too long ago Lucario, I felt almost the same as you, we all did," Ash said while continuing to stroke Lucario's head. Lucario looked to the trainer by his side in shock.

"_W-W-What?_" He asked in surprise.

Ash took a deep breath, closed his eyes and told his story.

"It was the finals in a tournament called the Sinnoh League. I used Infernape and my rival, Paul used an Electivire. It was a great battle, in the end however, Infernape fell, but that wasn't enough for Paul. He told me that my Pokémon were weak, kicked out of the pack because they could never be strong. He said I took them in feeling sorry for them. But that's not true, none of my Pokémon were ever weak. He told me that I was weak, that I couldn't battle, I couldn't make calls that more hardened trainers could. But that's not true either. I just panic when my Pokémon are in pain. Who wouldn't I guess?"

"He...He told me that my heart was weak, that I had no passion to reach my goal, that I could never be strong, that I should just go home and g... give up. But I refuse to believe that. Paul is an awful trainer and treats his Pokémon like tools. He never attempts to bond with his Pokémon. He's never called them friends. The only thing he has done with them is exhaust them to beyond their limits. He even punishes them if they can't go the distance that he wants them too."

"That's why he insulted me and my Pokémon. He doesn't care about any Pokémon's happiness, not even his own. That's why I can never be like him, that's why my Pokémon are happy with me. But...that's why I felt weak..."

Lucario gazed in awe at Ash as he finished his story. There was no doubt that Ash and his Pokémon, in their moment of weakness would've shared the same emotions that Lucario was feeling. Lucario noticed that Ash's fist was clenched and shaking. Ash took a deep breath and went on.

"It's true that I felt rage on that day, but I didn't feel hate, I've never felt hate. I don't know how to," Ash said. A smile grew on his face. "And I honestly think it's good thing. I never hate someone for yelling at or teasing me. Even if my any of my Pokémon lose in a battle, I don't hate them, I always know that they did their best. I guess that not being able to feel hate is a weakness to some other people as well."

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you believe that you're weak, that's just your mind telling you that there's room to improve. That's why me and my Pokémon are out on this journey. We'll train, get stronger and defeat Paul thus showing the world that the way that Paul trains his Pokémon is the wrong way. We need to do this before too many trainers get influenced. We need to do it so Pokémon worldwide don't suffer," Ash finished.

Lucario remained slack-jawed at Ash's story and logic. There were no coherent sentences that he could form. But Lucario could process one understandable thought. Ash was right. Lucario thought he was the only one who thought he was weak. But now he'd found someone who had been in the same position as he was in. He felt that there was finally someone who understood him. He felt like there was finally someone by his side to share the adventure with.

A small smile etched it's way on Lucario's face. But there was one more thing that was bothering him. He wasn't the only one. Ash still needed to find out what Lucario was thinking about when they were getting the bandages off, and Lucario still wanted to talk about Ash referring to his Pokémon as "family".

"_Uh..._I _need_ to _ask_ you _something,_" Both of them said at the same time.

"Uh you go first...," Ash offered.

"_Um...okay,_" Lucario replied. "_Well, I was thinking about when you called your Pokémon, your combatants, your family. Why did you do that?_"

Ash looked at Lucario's face, genuinely confused. "This must be what Lucario was thinking about " Ash thought.

"Huh, why shouldn't I? Me and my Pokémon are more than just trainer and battler. We can't be qualified to call ourselves a family if we just thought like that. No, we're more than that. We are friends, we are family…," Ash trailed off and looked back to his Pokémon.

"We are one," Ash finished.

Lucario then realized just how lucky he was by meeting Ash Ketchum, how lucky everyone who had ever met him was.

Ash suddenly had a flash of brilliance.

"Hey Lucario, how'd you like to do some training with us?" Ash asked.

Lucario was stupefied by the offer. Ash would be willing to train him?

"_Y-Y-You'd really do that for me?_" Lucario whispered.

Ash grinned. "Of course, I'd be happy to," Ash replied.

Suddenly, two simultaneous stomach growls occurred. The grins vanished from both faces. They had been so occupied with their conversation that neither of them realized how hungry they were. They looked at each other...

And then they burst out laughing. It was the first time in a long time that Lucario had laughed.

"How about we have some dinner first?" Ash said.

"_Agreed,_" Lucario chuckled.


	3. Chapter 3

_"Caring has the gift of making the ordinary special."_ – George R. Bach

.

After their talk by the lake, Ash and Lucario were starving. Their desire to commence with the training was overshadowed by the desire to fill their stomachs with some dinner. Ash had never really had an extreme problem feeding all his Pokémon despite the large numbers. He'd always find some way to feed his Pokémon one way or another. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't too hard either. In fact, one of the reasons he was heading to Mt Corenet was not only because it was a good place to train, but he also heard of a rare type of berry that grew quite commonly on the peak of the mountain despite the conditions. Apparently, it could sustain someone for a least two days. That would be invaluable for everyone. However, Mt Corenet was a good month and a half away, so he'd just have to find out when they got there.

Ash knelt down to reach into his bag and pulled out a stack of collapsible plastic food bowls. Simply pressing on it would make the flat bowl pop out and have enough room to put in a decent amount of Pokémon food. After doing this once to one bowl and repeating this process another 28 times, he had enough bowls for everyone. He reached into his pack again and pulled out multiple cans of Pokémon food. Each can could feed about four Pokémon, so Ash made sure to carry at least seven cans of Pokémon food at once. Ash pried the lid off each can and poured the food into one of the bowls. He then repeated this action until all the bowls were filled to the brim with Pokémon food. He then stood up and clapped his hands, satisfied with his work. He then grabbed one of the bowls and handed it to Lucario. The Pokémon gazed at the bowl of food in his paws. It seemed to be tasty. He took one of the pellets out and slowly chewed it.

"How is it, Lucario?" Ash asked. The Aura Pokémon looked up at Ash with a smile on his face.

"_It's really good. To be honest it's one of the best things I've ever tasted!_" he replied. Ash grinned at this statement.

"If that's the best thing you've ever tasted, I should've asked a friend of mine named Brock for his Pokémon food recipe. He can make food that's much tastier than that," Ash responded.

Lucario grabbed another piece and ate it.

"_So why didn't you?_" he asked.

Ash chuckled at this question and simply replied "'Cause anytime I cook something, I burn it so bad that you could use whatever I made to pave roads."

Lucario laughed at Ash's joke and then resumed eating.

"_So where is this Brock now?_" Lucario asked. Ash's grin slowly left his face, leaving Lucario to wonder about what had happened.

"Just...give me a second," Ash replied. He then cupped his hands around his mouth to accentuate his voice.

"Hey guys, dinner's ready! Come and get it!" Ash shouted. He turned to Lucario. "You might wanna step back a bit," he said.

Lucario was confused by Ash's words for a brief moment. That confusion was quickly dissuaded as he saw a herd of all of Ash's Pokémon stampeding towards said trainer's position. Lucario, now having got the point, quickly backed a few meters away. Ash stood his ground. having done this over a dozen times. Lucario backed away a bit more and found a rock that he could sit on. He placed himself down, grabbed another pellet from his bowl, and watched the chaos ensue.

Eventually, the trial of the Pokémon pandemonium ended. All the Pokémon were happily feasting on their bowls of Pokémon food, and Ash, although looking a slight bit disheveled was relatively unharmed.

After looking back and feeling satisfied that dinner had been served for his Pokémon, he began to make his way over to Lucario. The Pokémon in question noticed Ash's approach. Ash reached Lucario and settled himself down on the rock that Lucario was already occupying. Ash turned his head to his left to look at Lucario and Lucario stared back. A minute passed, only the breeze blowing and distant sounds of Pokémon eating were all that kept the scene from being completely silent. Ash was trying to collect his thoughts on where to begin on the subject of his friends.

"_So, who are your friends?_" Lucario asked, breaking the silence in an attempt to push Ash forward a bit. Ash stayed quiet for a few moments before smiling as the memories of his dear friends filled his mind.

"Well, as I mentioned before, Brock has been on my journey for the longest any human has travelled with me. I met him in Pewter City. He was the gym leader there, but also a big brother and care giver to nine other siblings. When I tried to win a Boulder Badge from him, he beat me pretty bad. The second time, we accidentally activated a sprinkler system and stopped the battle. But later, Brock decided to give me the badge anyway. He's a great Pokémon breeder and chef. He's smart and has really helped me out through all my adventures."

"Another one of my friends, Dawn is a Pokémon coordinator. I met her in the forest after a trio of Pokémon thieves that call themselves Team Rocket attempted to steal Pikachu. She did her best to protect him, and for that, I'll always be grateful. After stopping them, she joined my journey. She's always there on the journey to help lift the tone up and she gets along with her Pokémon well. And despite some...uh...difficulty with how she looks at times, she's a valuable asset to the team. She hasn't been with me as long as Brock has, but I don't think that matters."

Lucario was listening greatly as Ash recounted his experience with his friends. As soon as he finished Lucario decided to ask the question that had been on his mind for a while.

"_So, if they're such great friends, then how come you're out here with only your Pokémon? Why aren't they here?_" Lucario asked.

Ash sighed. "Well, the night of the event that I told you about, I... I-I left them...," Ash confessed. "I came to the conclusion that my Pokémon and I weren't getting the time that we needed to train to our fullest potentials. Since we needed to help out Dawn and Brock with their skills, we weren't getting any time to train properly. The same applied to them. We were slowing them down too. I decided that in order for us all to get better, we needed to go our separate ways, and get stronger by ourselves. And yes, I do sometimes regret my decision. But sometimes, you gotta stop walking the easy path and turn around and face the hard path, the one that you don't want to go down but the one that'll make you stronger," Ash told him.

In the Pokémon's mind, it did kind of make sense. With no one else distracting you from your goal with theirs, it would be very difficult to be distracted from your own, especially if you had a one-track-mind. Lucario knew that he could never fathom how hard it was for Ash to make that difficult, but beneficial choice.

Ash then stood up from the rock and stretched his back. "But that's the past, something I choose not to focus on. I'm more of a what's-happening-now guy, and that's that," Ash said.

Lucario finally understood all of what Ash had on his shoulders. The responsibility to become stronger to beat Paul, the guilt he carried for leaving his friends, but most of all, the duty he possessed to be always optimistic and never give up when everyone else did. Ash was definitely, a truly unique human, but in a good way.

"So, now that's over, I think it's about time to get to the main event," Ash announced, his grin plastering his face. Lucario's soul suddenly resounded with happiness.

"_Y-You mean...?_"

Ash nodded. "Lucario, it's time for some training!"

* * *

"Man, this forest just never seems to end," Dominic muttered to himself as he settled himself down against a tree. The campfire that he made a few minutes ago crackled audibly throughout the forest's quiet state. The wood that was being used to fuel the fire was burnt to charcoal. Dominic looked up at the night sky to see many stars shining with a radiant glow, illuminating the darkness that was the lone portal to the underworld.

"This is a good spot to settle down. Normally, I can't get a space like this, got lucky I guess," he thought.

He sighed, taking in a good breath of the chilly night air. He was quickly growing bored of his surroundings being nothing but forest.

"If only that Pidgeot I saw today didn't have a trainer, I could've flown to and be in another town by now!" He muttered angrily.

He suddenly realized that he had never put any thought in about this trainer that was he was supposedly sharing the forest with. What was he like? What kind of Pokémon did he have besides a Pidgeot? And most importantly, how powerful were they? His eyes widened in shock as his memory suddenly flashed back to that massive electrical tower that he saw earlier that day. That couldn't have been an attack from one of this trainer's Pokémon, could it? No, that was silly, it had to have been from a legendary Pokémon. There was no other kind of Pokémon in the world that could produce such an attack...right?

* * *

Ash and Lucario took position near the lake. For the first portion of Lucario's training, Ash suggested to work on speed, no doubt an invaluable asset in battling.

"Alright Lucario, this is a great place to train. We'll work on your speed and stamina right now and move up to other stuff as we go," Ash said. Lucario nodded in agreement.

"_Right!_" he said. Ash smiled at Lucario's enthusiasm to get the training started, both were obviously very excited for the night ahead.

"Ok, Lucario, we have a big space here, so we're gonna race around the rim of the area, going as fast as we can go. This'll help speed up your movements and give you more energy to work with in battle" Ash said. Lucario's eyes widened in surprise when Ash said that they would do it. Ash, knowing what Lucario's question was going to be answered it before the Pokémon had a chance to ask it.

"I don't think it's fair for a Pokémon to need to train alone, so I train with them. Obviously I don't fire lightning bolts out of my hands or streams of fire from my mouth, but it's just fair that I try to strengthen myself just as much as they do," Ash explained.

"_Uhh...ok...,_" Lucario said.

Ash then knelt down to the ground in a starting position before a race began and gestured for Lucario to do the same. Some of Ash's Pokémon were watching as the training was about to begin.

"3...," Ash began to count down. Lucario took a breath of anticipation.

"2..."

The Pokémon's spine began to tingle and adrenaline began rushing through his veins.

"1..."

It was time.

"GO!"

Both Ash and Lucario took off the instant that word had been called out. Ash kept a steady pace with Lucario close behind. Both were sprinting and already giving it their all. Their feet thundered along the perimeter of the clearing. All Pokémon watching were cheering them both on as the two of them tried to overtake each other. Ash had a good lead for the first four laps, but soon began to tire, slowing his pace down a bit. Lucario, in fact all Pokémon in general had more amounts of stamina than humans had. Lucario saw this as an opportunity to gain some leeway in the race and quickly began to move himself even faster, arms trailing behind him and leaning forward to increase his speed. A few moments later, Lucario began to pass Ash.

"*pant* *pant* That's it Lucario. Now, try to go even faster and maintain that speed!" Ash wheezed out, an obvious indicator that he was wearing down.

Lucario however was still going strong and began to push himself even harder. The wind blew against his face, attempting to stop the Aura Pokémon from going any faster. It began to succeed on the sixth lap. Ash's pace hadn't made any noticeable changes since the fourth lap, but Lucario's began to slow down. Ash noticed this change in Lucario's sprinting pattern.

"Come on Lucario, I know that you can go further than that. You can do it!" he called.

Lucario's eyes widened as he heard the encouragement. It was irregular for Lucario to receive something along the lines of praise or inspiration. And hearing someone say it made him feel incredible and filled him with vigor.

Lucario's eyes narrowed in determination as he began to put more energy into his sprint. He began to pick up speed again. A lot more speed. Wait, something was happening here! Lucario's entire body began to feel weightless as if he wasn't even there. This new development shocked Lucario as he looked over his body. There weren't any noticeable changes to him. That's when he realized how fast his legs were moving. They were akin to a blur. He was so intrigued by this sudden event, he didn't notice what was in front of him until Ash yelled...

"Lucario, look out!"

The Aura Pokémon looked up just in time to see that he was just about to run headfirst into a tree.

"_Woah!_" Lucario cried in surprise.

Almost without thinking, Lucario jumped and turned himself sideways in the air, allowing him to land on the tree trunk on all fours. He then pushed down on all limbs to launch himself off the tree like a springboard. The moment he landed, he stopped running. Surprise was all he felt at the moment. He knew the tree that he nearly ran into was at least twenty meters further away than he thought he was before he nearly hit it.

Ash had also stopped running. He had also noticed Lucario's dramatic speed increase and was about to consult the Pokémon about this before Lucario almost ran into the tree. All of a sudden, Ash realized what had happened.

"L-Lucario, I think that you just learned Extremespeed!" Ash called to the Aura Pokémon.

The Pokémon gasped at this claim. He couldn't remember the last time that he learned a new move.

"_R-Really?_" Lucario stuttered in shock, amazement and excitement.

Ash simply smiled and nodded.

Lucario was ecstatic. He wasn't even an hour into training and he'd already learned a new move. As a euphoria-like feeling came over him, he began to run. He gradually got faster and faster until he switched into Extremespeed. Lucario laughed in delight as he felt his body adjust to the sensations of the move more and more every time his feet hit the ground. Within twenty seconds, Lucario had circled the clearing ten times. He never felt any fatigue or exhaustion in that time. This was totally awesome!

"Hey, that's cheating!" Ash said while attempting to catch up to the speedster despite it being impossible. Lucario looked back at Ash.

_"Aw come on Ash, if you think this is unfair, then just use your Extremespeed too!"_ Lucario cheekily replied, knowing full well that Ash was not capable of that.

Ash had no chance to catch up to Lucario now, but he had learned a brand-new move and his speed and stamina had increased immensely. Ash decided that it was time to start portion two of the training. However, Lucario looked like he was having too much fun to stop anytime soon. If Lucario spent all his energy here, then they'd be unable to continue the training. Ash suddenly got an idea to get Lucario's mind back on the training.

He began to run around the perimeter again (Lucario passing him multiple times) until he reached the Sleeping Pokémon. Snorlax had been asleep ever since he was let out of his pokeball, waking up only once for dinner, something that Ash, right now, was thankful for. He stopped running and began to pant, making it look like he'd spent all his stamina.

Lucario noticed this and grinned "_He's tired, but I can do this all night!_" he thought as he continued to make his way around the area. The moment he entered Ash's vicinity, he noticed that something seemed off. But he didn't bother to think about it.

Ash got ready. He would need good timing for this. He closed his eyes. He felt the wind coming off Lucario's Extremespeed, he heard the footsteps of Lucario's feet hitting the ground. He saw it in his mind's eye. Lucario was getting closer and closer...

"_NOW!_" Ash thought.

He quickly stuck his foot out in Lucario's path just as the Aura Pokémon was passing him. Lucario saw Ash do this and he was greatly surprised. He was moving too fast for him to react in time. His fate was sealed. Once Lucario's foot had hit Ash's, The Aura Pokémon was sent flying. Ash had made sure to angle his foot so Lucario would trip towards the way he wanted him to land.

"_Whoa!_" Lucario cried as he flew through the air.

Fortunately, Ash had made sure that Lucario would trip and go flying towards the softest thing in the clearing, the soft thing being Snorlax's belly. He obviously didn't want Lucario to get hurt, so this method of stopping the Aura Pokémon in his tracks seemed logical.

Lucario closed his eyes as he braced himself for a hard landing on the ground. However, he felt himself land on something soft, something that definitely wasn't earth. He opened his eyes to find himself laying upon one of the heaviest Pokémon in the world.

"You alright, Lucario?" Ash asked.

The Pokémon didn't answer for a few seconds, most likely due to the shock of everything that just happened going by way too fast. Eventually, Lucario turned his head towards Ash, still laying face up on Snorlax's cream-colored stomach.

"_I... I got a bit carried away, didn't I?_" he asked the trainer.

"Yeah" Ash replied with a small smile.

Lucario slowly got up, carefully as to try and not wake up the snoozing Pokémon despite the fact that a feat like that was not easily done. He hopped off the massive Pokémon and onto the ground.

"I'm really sorry that I needed to do that Lucario, but if I didn't, you would've just kept on running and spend all your energy that you would need to continue your training," Ash explained.

Lucario looked down at the ground. What Ash said was true. Lucario let the feeling get to his head, and that was inexcusable.

"Still...," Ash continued, making Lucario look up in confusion, how could there be a good side to this? "You just learned Extremespeed! How cool is that?! We haven't even been training for very long and you've already learned a new move! I'm really proud of you!" Ash said.

Lucario soon had a smile grow on his face. Ash has turned his sadness into joy as he felt pride in himself.

"What do you say we move on to the next portion of your training," Ash suggested. Lucario nodded.

"_Yeah!_"

In a few minutes, Ash and Lucario were standing a few meters away from each other. Ash had instructed Lucario to take this position despite the Pokémon not knowing what they were going to do.

"Alright Lucario, I think we both know that you need some more power to put behind your Force Palm, so we're going to work on that," Ash explained.

Lucario got the idea, but what could they use that was breakable at Lucario's level, but still not too strong?

"Ready, Lucario?" Ash asked.

"_Wait, what can I use to practice on?_" Lucario asked.

Ash smiled, confusing Lucario, until the fighting type noticed that Ash's right hand was clenched into a fist. Lucario's eyes widened.

"_He's not really going to do what I think he's going to do, right?_" he thought.

He was.

"Here I come Lucario!" Ash yelled as he began to sprint towards the Aura Pokémon.

Because of the shock of what Ash was doing, Lucario had barely any time to process what he needed to do. Unfortunately for him, the rest of the time to process was taken up by hesitation. Lucario didn't want to harm Ash, for obvious reasons. As Ash drew his fist back, Lucario' body refused to perform any movement.

His eyes never left the fist growing closer and closer to his face. The exact instant where Ash would've hit Lucario, his fist stopped, mere inches away. This surprised Lucario, making him fall backward on the ground. He didn't hit the ground too hard, so he didn't experience any pain.

Ash looked down at the Aura Pokémon, most likely hating himself for not giving Lucario any advance warning of what he was about to do. He put his hand out, allowing Lucario to grab it. Ash hoisted the Pokémon up onto his feet.

"I saw that you hesitated. Whether under pressure or not, it's not a good thing to do," Ash stated when Lucario was back on his feet. Lucario looked at the boy in front of him.

"_I-I'm sorry Ash, but I-I just couldn't bring myself to hit you,_" Lucario stuttered.

Ash put a reassuring hand on Lucario's shoulder. "Don't worry about it, besides you don't need to hit me. The only thing you need to do is make your Force Palm collide with my fist, we'll do this to boost your strength and the power of your Force Palm. Is that a plan?" Ash explained.

Lucario nodded. Now that he knew what to do, he wouldn't mess up. Ash and Lucario repositioned themselves where they were previously.

"Ok, let's do it Lucario!" Ash said.

"_Yeah, bring it Ash!_" Lucario replied.

Ash's hands clenched into fists.

Lucario's paws emanated with power as a yellow aura surrounded them.

Almost simultaneously, both of them leapt forward, dashing towards their opponent.

They drew their arms back...

And then thrusted them forward with everything they had.

"RARGH" they both cried as both Palm and Punch clashed.

Almost instantly, a heavy amount of strain was being pushed onto both human and Pokémon, they were pretty much equally matched. Despite the pressure that he was under to stay standing, Ash looked at Lucario and gave him some advice.

"Lucario, you're relying more on the move and less on what you need to do to execute it properly. Try to follow through and put your own power into the attack as well as the move's power," He explained through gritted teeth.

"_My own power...?_" Lucario thought.

He looked at the connecting point of his and Ash's hands. Sure his attack was sparking and impressive, but it was basically just a light show if there was barely any power to put behind it.

Lucario, had never thought of it like that. Was his Force Palm always failing because he had too much faith in his move, and not enough in his own strength? He had to find out.

Instead of putting lots of focus into his move, he tried to put equal amounts in both the move and the arm he was using it with. The second he did that, he felt his strength flare, as if he had suddenly unlocked a hidden well of strength. He quickly put it to use and pushed his palms against Ash's fists. The results were almost instantaneous.

Ash's struggle quickly ended as his fists were pushed back with Lucario's newfound strength. Ash did his best but he had obviously just become outclassed. But what everyone forgot and failed to remember in time was the fact that a Force Palm packed a strong concussive blast at the end.

Before anyone could react, an explosion burst out of Lucario's paws, it's target? Ash.

Ash's eyes widened as he was blown back from the attack. Lucario gasped in surprise. His Force Palm had never reached a point where it exploded. It was Ash's advice that had taught him how to use his inner strength, and now, that person was soaring across the clearing. Lucario, and a few other Pokémon suddenly noticed that Ash was flying towards a tree.

"_Pikapi!_ (Ash!) Pikachu cried as he saw his trainer about to be dealt a great deal of pain.

"_No!_" Lucario cried.

At that very moment, Lucario made a decision to take action. Lucario took off sprinting, soon switching to Extremespeed. In a few moments, he was able to speed past Ash and prepare a Force Palm. Just as Ash was about to hit the tree, Lucario struck the tree with his attack while remembering the advice that Ash gave him.

He was stunned at what happened next.

The moment the tree was struck by Lucario's palm, it split apart, turning it into nothing but splinters.

"_Phew, that was close._" All of the present Pokémon thought.

Lucario was stupefied that he had just did what he'd done. He was so stupefied in fact...he forgot to catch Ash. As Ash flew by Lucario, he regained his senses, immediately noticing that he was flying in the air. What he also noticed was that Lucario was standing next to what remained of a tree looking shocked, with his palm out. Ash figured it out and despite his predicament, smiled as he saw that he was just saved by Lucario.

He suddenly felt himself hit something that wasn't the ground. The ground that he knew wasn't cold or wet and it didn't make a splash sound.

Lucario and the other Pokémon watched as they waited for Ash to resurface after he landed in the lake. It took a while, and a few of Ash's water types were even about to dive in to assist their trainer. However, that assistance wasn't needed as Ash broke the surface a few seconds later. As he was making his way back to dry land, everyone wondered how he would react.

Eventually, Ash reached the lake's edge and hoisted himself up, with a bit of difficulty due to the enhanced weight of his clothes that had soaked up water.

"L-L-Lucario…," Ash muttered.

He shivered as he tried to get up. Not wasting a moment, Lucario rushed over and helped him get up. He held out his hand for Ash to take, an action that Ash gladly accepted.

"_A-A-Ash I'm so, so sorry! I swear I didn't mean it!_" Lucario said with his voice unstable signifying the regret he was feeling.

"L-Lucario...," Ash stuttered, his teeth chattering. The lake was really cold in the night. "Do you have any idea...how AWESOME this is?!" Ash said, his voice suddenly perking up. Ash's actions and emotions, for the umpteenth time confused Lucario.

"_H-Huh?_" he replied.

"You've j-just learned to use your Force Palm properly! If you c-can do what you just did with a bit of training, just imagine how powerful you'll be when you t-train even more!" Ash said cheerfully.

"_Th-Thanks Ash!_" Lucario replied. Ash grinned.

"C'mon, let's continue with the n-next portion of your training," Ash said. Just then, Ash felt a tug on his pant leg. He looked down to see Pikachu shaking his head.

"_Pika Cha Chupika Pikachu Pi Cha Pika Pi Chu Pikapi_ (If you think that you're training with how you are now, you got another thing coming Ash,)" Pikachu told his trainer. Ash knelt down to face his starter.

"Aw come on b-buddy, I feel f-fine," he replied.

"_Pikapi Pika Pikachu Chu Pi Pikachu Ka Pika Cha Pi Pika Chupi_ (Ash, you're shivering and cold, you're not fine. It's not safe for you to train like that,)" Pikachu retorted.

Ash sighed "Fine, but only c-cause you want me t-to."

Ash then stood back up and turned to Lucario.

"I'm sorry Lucario, but I don't think that I'll be able to train alongside you for a bit. Maybe after an hour by the fire, I'll be ready to go again. So you'll have to train without me. I can still give you advice though," Ash told Lucario.

Lucario accepted this, albeit reluctantly. Training wasn't going to be as fun without Ash joining in.

A few minutes later, Ash was sat down by the fire with his hands out in front of him, trying his best to absorb the heat. He couldn't train along Lucario for the time being, but just as he said, he could still guide Lucario. As Ash sat near the fire, he turned to the Aura Pokémon.

"Alright, so since you've got Force Palm down, I think it's time to teach you some hand-to hand combat. If your opponent tries to get close to you, you're gonna have to be able to defend and attack back. I think I know someone here that can help you with that," Ash explained. He then turned to Pikachu. "Hey pal, do you think you can get Primeape to come over here?" Ash asked.

Pikachu cocked his head to the side in confusion. "_Pikachu Pikapi Cha Ka Pika- Pika Chu Chupi Pikachu Pi Pi Chu Pika _(But Ash, why do you want-oh, you want Primeape to teach Lucario some moves don't you?)" Pikachu concluded. Ash nodded. Pikachu nodded back and ran off to get the fighting-type.

Pikachu dashed towards the Pig Monkey Pokémon, who was throwing punches at a tree. He wasn't punching hard enough to knock it down, but hard enough to make it shake. Pikachu needed to do this carefully. Ash's Primeape, in fact, all Primeapes' in general, were very easy to provoke, and their anger combined with their physique was a painful combination. Pikachu went over to Primeape's side, slowly. He didn't want to catch him by surprise, Primeape would get mad at even that.

* * *

(To save your time, and mine, any conversation that Pokémon have with other Pokémon that lasts for a while will be translated into human speech and won't have pokespeech like "Pika Pi Ka Kachupi")

"Uh, excuse me Primeape," Pikachu said.

Primeape looked at Pikachu briefly before looking back at the tree and continued to punch.

"What do ya want?" he asked. Pikachu continued.

"Well, Ash is training Lucario and he needs someone who can help him out with hand-to-hand combat," Pikachu explained.

Primeape stopped mid punch. "And why does he want me? Ash has other Pokémon that can teach Lucario some skills, so why does he want me?" Primeape asked. Pikachu simply shrugged.

"I don't know. My best guess is because you're the only Fighting type that Ash has. And you like to train a lot. And you can use the most Fighting type moves than anyone here. And-"

"ALRIGHT I GET IT!" Primeape cut in. Pikachu recoiled, what was Primeape going to do?

"Yeah, fine, I'll do it. I guess it makes sense. And think we both know that Ash certainly can't teach Lucario. Don't tell him I said this, but he couldn't throw a punch to save his life," Primeape joked.

There would later be a time where Primeape would be forced to eat those words.

He stepped away from the tree and began to make his way over to Ash and Lucario.

* * *

"_So basically, just try to not make him mad?_" Lucario asked Ash.

"Yeah, Primeape is a great battler and all, but he gets angry very easily. So just do your best and maybe he won't get cross with you. Don't worry though, I'll step in if he's getting too violent," Ash explained.

As if on cue, Primeape stepped up behind them. A determined look in his eyes, fire flaring in his small, black pupils. He pointed a finger at Lucario.

_"Pri Ri Primeape?_ (Are you ready?)"

* * *

A stick was poked into the small embers of the fire in an attempt to make the flames grow. Dominic ran his free hand through his hair. Since the fire he made was dying down, he was now trying to get it going again. Truth be told, if he wasn't constantly thinking about this trainer, he would've fallen asleep. Theories ran through his head. It seemed a little strange for a supposedly strong mystery trainer and a legendary Pokémon to show up at the same time. Unless this trainer had actually performed the near impossible feat of capturing a legendary.

The only Pokémon of legends that he knew were electric types were Raikou and Zapdos. But both of them were almost impossible to come across. The number of sightings of either were in the tens at most. And what threat would this trainer need the strength of a legendary for?

But maybe it wasn't a legendary. Maybe it could be a member of the Elite 4. It could even be a Champion, like Lance of Kanto and Johto, Steven of Hoenn, or Cynthia of Sinnoh. The last one would make the most sense since the Yuju Forest was located in the Sinnoh region. Dominic had a special eye for power and was good at guessing what kind of trainer wielded that power, and to say that he was impressed with what he witnessed was an understatement.

Eventually, he decided that whatever who, or it was wasn't something worth worrying about since it was highly unlikely that they would cross paths, especially in a place like the Yuju Forest.

As soon as he thought this, he realized how tired he was. He yawned. He sat himself down against a tree and folded his arms. Slowly, he let his head drop and let sleep overtake him. Dominic was done for today.

* * *

Primeape blocked a punch from Lucario quite easily.

"_Prime Pri Mape Primeape Prime _(Your punches are sloppy, Lucario,)" Primeape said to Lucario as they continued their spar. Right now, Lucario was training with Primeape to increase his skill in combat.

Lucario gritted his teeth in frustration. They had been sparring for about five minutes now and he hadn't landed one successful blow against his opponent. He attempted to land a kick on Primeape's face, but Primeape jumped the attempt. Lucario then attempted to try and punch the Pig Monkey Pokémon in the air, as he had no means to dodge. This proved to be fruitless as Primeape grabbed Lucario's fist, much to the Aura Pokémon's surprise. He then twisted his body around to the right, while still holding on to Lucario. This, of course, led to Lucario being tossed away from Primeape, while said fighting type landed unharmed. Lucario slammed into the ground face first.

"_Prime Primape Ape Ri Mape Mape _(Get up, that's not enough to finish you,)" Primeape said, rather harshly while bouncing on his toes like a boxer.

Lucario slowly lifted his head from the earth and turned to look at the fighting type with a glare. Without warning, Lucario shot up and charged at the Pig Monkey Pokémon, frustrated growls escaping his jaws. Lucario skidded to a stop in front of Primape and instantly began to lash out multiple punches upon his opponent. The only thing the jabs were able to do, however, was hit empty air as Primeape leaned left and right to avoid them.

After dodging a large amount of punches, Primeape began to grow bored and decided to step it up a notch. Just as Lucario's jab was about to hit him, Primeape ducked under it and readied his next move. Lucario began to look down at his opponent, to try to see what he was doing and if he could find a way to stop it. But before he had a chance to process what he saw, Primeape shot up and smashed his knee directly into Lucario's face. Unsurprisingly, this sent Lucario flying backwards and, once again, caused him to land hard on the ground.

"_Prime Pri Ape Ape Prime Primeape Prime Pri Prime Primeape _(This is boring Lucario, you need to either get better at this, or I'll finish this now and you can stop wasting my time,)" The anger-prone Pokémon said to Lucario, who was still on the ground. This was when something happened that even Lucario didn't understand.

A strange feeling overcame Lucario, and he was shocked to find that he felt a sudden burst of vigor flow its way through his body. An urge crossed his mind, an urge to use every single one of his limbs to attack. This didn't go unnoticed by Primeape, who was surprised by the new development.

Ash, who was watching this too, almost immediately knew what was happening to the Aura Pokémon. He was still sat up close to the fire, Pikachu monitoring him to make sure he didn't try to sneak off to continue to train with Lucario. His eyes widened in surprise. Lucario had already learned Extremespeed tonight, but now, he had learned yet another move.

"Close Combat...," Ash whispered.

sing his recently learned Extremespeed, Lucario was off the ground and standing in front of Primeape in the blink of an eye. The Pig Monkey was shocked and totally unprepared for this.

"_Time to turn the tables,_" Lucario thought.

With great speed, Lucario thrust his right palm to snap Primeape's head upward. His left hand immediately chopped Primeape's left shoulder, while his right leg swept Primeape off his feet. While he was imbalanced, Primeape felt a fierce barrage of punches in his gut before Lucario head connected with his. As Primeape moved back due to the force, Lucario's left leg came up, and came into contact with Primeape's face. Primeape winced, which turned out to be a big mistake as it gave Lucario another opening, as if he needed one. Lucario made his way behind him to deliver a chop that could've easily knocked him out if Primeape wasn't a true warrior, hardened by battle. This was followed by a brutal palm strike to his back and a roundhouse kick as the finisher, which sent the Pig Monkey Pokémon flying.

Everyone watched in awe as the brutal display of raw power and martial arts was being performed with Primeape as the target. They looked to the Pig Monkey Pokémon who was sprawled out on the ground. He looked like he'd only suffered a small amount of damage due to him bring far more experienced that Lucario was. Speaking of which, Lucario was looking extremely exhausted due to his body not having the used the powerful move before. He was panting and he looked pretty exhausted, just barely having enough energy to stand.

Everyone's vision trailed back to the Pig Monkey Pokémon as he got up from the ground. They weren't worried about the damage that Primeape sustained, which wasn't a lot, they were more worried of the expression on Primeape's face.

The Pig Monkey Pokémon's eyes bore straight into the Aura Pokémon's and it showed nothing but rage and everyone was scared of what was to come, for there are few things more dangerous than an enraged Primeape.

"_Pri Pri Primeape Prime Primeape Ape _(Oh, you're going to wish you'd never done that!)" Primeape muttered. It was at this moment where everyone noticed that Primeape's right fist was glowing a bright white.

Ash gasped at what Primape was doing. "_Primeape, that's going too far, you can't use Focus Punch on Lucario. That attack is too strong you're going to end up hurting Lucario really bad, please Primeape stop now!_" Ash cried to the Pig Monkey Pokémon.

Unfortunately, Primeape was too enraged to hear his trainer. The only thing on his mind right now was to charge up a Focus Punch so he could demolish the Aura Pokémon standing in front of him. In the next second Primeape began to advance, rage having now taken over his entire being. The only thing he wanted to do now was to make Lucario pay.

Said Aura Pokémon could do nothing but watch helplessly as he awaited the pain that seemed imminent. He panted breathlessly, trying to get his body out of the way of the Focus Punch's power, but he felt nothing but exhaustion and could only stand and wait for pain. Time seems to slow it down as Lucario closed his eyes and Primeape was inches away. Then the predictable cry of pain resonated throughout the clearing...

Just not Lucario's...

All the Pokémon gasped of what had just happened. Lucario had his eyes closed so he didn't know what was going on. And to be honest, he was afraid to open them, but eventually, he found the courage to open his eyes and was shocked and horrified at what he saw. He hadn't felt any pain and the reason why was directly in front of him, moaning in agony.

Standing in front of Lucario, defensively, was Ash. He let out a small groan of pain as the Focus Punch's power in Primeape's fist slowly died down. Speaking of which, The Pig Monkey Pokémon was also shocked what had transpired. He had hurt his trainer. He couldn't believe that Ash had done something like this.

"W-Well, Primeape, n-nice to see you're st-stronger than ever," Ash moaned out as he held his forearms against his stomach in pain. He looked up to face his fighting type Pokémon. Primeape's eyes opened wide as he noticed a small trickle of blood trailing down the left corner of Ash's mouth.

Primeape was horrified at the fact that he had caused his trainer to bleed and began to apologize profusely.

_"Pri Ri Ape Prime Pri Pri Primape Ri Mape Pri Primeape Ape Prime Ri Pri Primeape _(Ash I-I'm so sorry, I didn't want to hit you, I-I-I'm so sorry Ash,)" The Pig Monkey Pokémon cried actually getting down on his knees, his hands planted firmly on the ground.

Primeape was obviously very mortified at what he had just done. By this time, most of Ash's Pokémon had dashed over and what equally as horrified as Primeape when they saw what condition Ash was in.

"_Pika Pikachu Pikapi Chu Pika Cha Cha Pika Pika Pikachu? _(Oh no, Ash, are you okay?)" Pikachu asked his best friend. Ash let out a small cough.

"Yeah buddy, I'm fine. It's just that if I didn't do something, Lucario was gonna get hurt," he said, wiping away the blood. Ash then turned around to the best of his ability to look at the Aura Pokémon. "Are you hurt Lucario? Primeape went a little too far, didn't he?" Ash said and even despite the pain he was feeling, let out a chuckle.

Lucario was frozen on the spot. Why? Why had Ash done something so stupid? Just to protect him? He tried to get his body to move, to do anything, to respond to Ash and say he was fine, but he was slowly getting overwhelmed by his emotions.

This was his fault. He didn't care if he was exhausted, if he'd only moved, even a little, this wouldn't have happened. Ash had taken the blow for a Pokémon he'd barely known for one day, and Ash was the one who was asking if Lucario was ok?

"It's ok, Lucario."

Just three words. Small ones, but needed ones, as it snapped Lucario out of his thoughts.

"_H-Huh?_" Lucario replied.

"It's not your fault. You couldn't dodge, you couldn't even move, so I just did what came to my mind first, and I'd do it again if I had to," Ash continued, his smile never dropping from his face.

"_B-B-But I... I could've done...more,_" Lucario whispered back, looking down at the ground, not having the courage to look Ash in the eye.

However, he felt a hand under his chin that gently pushed his head back up. Before he knew it, his eyes were locked with Ash's auburn ones.

"Lucario, you didn't need to do any more than what you did. You learned a new move, and even pushed Primeape around a bit. That was doing enough for me. And when Primeape came charging at you with that Focus Punch, and you couldn't move, I knew that I needed to do something, because you did enough. If you think that I'm mad or disappointed in you, I'm not. I'm so proud of you Lucario, I'm so grateful I get to train you..."

"I'm so happy that you're my friend."

Ash's heart completely opened out to Lucario. He held his left paw in his hand while still looking into Lucario's eyes. Ash's eyes were so warm and comforting and his smile seemed to light up the area around them.

Lucario simply stared wide-eyed and mouth agape. "_I-I-I...,_" he stammered. His eyes started to water. "_I-I'm..._"

"Go on, Lucario. Take your time," Ash urged, placing a hand on Lucario's shoulder.

He couldn't take it anymore. Before Ash or any of the other Pokémon knew it, Lucario quickly wrapped his arms around Ash and hugged him as tightly as he could. He then began to sob on Ash's shoulder, tears falling freely down his face. Ash briefly looked in shock at Lucario as he hugged him. Soon, however, Ash's face reclaimed it's smile. He gently wrapped his arms around Lucario's head and back and returned the hug.

"It's ok, Lucario. It's ok," Ash whispered reassuringly into Lucario's ear, while softly stroking the back of the crying Pokémon's head. Ash was about to offer more words of comfort, until Lucario began to say something.

"_I... I'm h...h...,_" Lucario began to say while in between sobs.

"What is it?" Ash asked. Lucario sniffled a little bit before finishing.

"_I'm happy that...that you're my friend too,_" he finished, a small smile made its way onto Lucario's face.

At this Ash grinned and continued to comfort Lucario, slowly stroking his head, his hand trailing through the blue and black fur. And as they stood in the center of the group of Pokémon, in their embrace, they both knew, an everlasting friendship now flowed between them.

* * *

He needed to run; it didn't matter where. As long as he could get away. Get away from what he was being chased by. Dominic sprinted as fast as he could through the black void that seemed infinite.

"_Ma-Master..._" Said a voice that echoed in Dominic's ears. The voice sounded weak and pleading.

"L-Leave me alone!" Dominic yelled into the void while he continued to run. Sweat had plastered his forehead and made strands of blonde hair stick to it. He couldn't stop running, if he did...

"_I... I thought I could trust you. That I could rely on you...if I needed to..._" The voice continued. This time, it was filled with sorrow and pain. Dominic shut his eyes and attempted to block the voice out, but he found that he could not as each word seemed to resonate in his soul, not his ears.

"_...But you sold me out! Threw me away, like trash. But you couldn't stop there, couldn't you...?_"

Now the voice sounded angry and betrayed. Dominic knew exactly what the voice was talking about, but continued to try to get away. It was hopeless though. No matter how much he ran, he always felt himself being pulled back like metal to a magnet, unable to gain any traction.

"_COULDN'T YOU!?_" The voice yelled.

Dominic finally realized that it was pointless to keep running. He was getting tired, and wouldn't be able to go much further. Hesitantly, he began to slow himself down, eventually coming to a complete stop. It was time to face it. He closed his eyes and turned around, quickly. If he went slowly, he'd have second thoughts and would run again. He opened both eyes wide, forcing them to stare at his pursuer. He gasped at what he saw.

Limping out of the darkness was a bloodied Lucario, holding his right arm with his left one. Dominic decided it was time to fight back against the wounded Aura Pokémon.

"Y-Yeah! I didn't stop there, I did what I needed to," Dominic yelled. It was a few moments afterward that he heard the voice again.

"_But I always saw you as a person that was above what you did. Do you see the same person I see or don't you? Do you truly believe that what you did to me was right?_" Lucario asked.

Dominic was still questioning whether this was a brave move, or a stupid one. He decided on the former.

"You saw that everyone was above everythin' through your eyes. You chose to blind yourself with your own naivety. And you were weak because of that. You were nothin' but a weight I needed to carry, the true meaning of being pathetic, and now, you're out of my hair forever. Out of everyone's hair because a weakling like you isn't fit to live in this world!"

It was becoming obvious that Dominic was gaining confidence, while Lucario was losing it, almost like he was sucking all of Lucario's self-assurance away and adding it to his own. Lucario no longer looked angry, but instead looked frightened. Dominic flashed a grin.

"That's it. You're nothin' but a weak, pathetic coward that can't accept that anyone who ever said that you were strong or brave was lying just so you'd feel better about yourself."

Lucario had sunk to his knees. Those words had completely and utterly demoralized him. He could only muster one last sentence.

"_M-Master...P-Please don't do this..._"

Dominic's face then bore a scowl.

"You are gone. I'm no longer your Master, and I wish I never was!" Dominic yelled that last bit and ended it with a strong kick to Lucario's head. The Aura Pokémon didn't get back up; he just lay spread-eagle on the ground.

This filled Dominic with a new confidence that he'd never known before. And this feeling was something he could get used to. Before he knew it, his world had become flooded with light.

Dominic gradually opened his eyes to see that it was still night time. He was still in the same position that he was in when he went to sleep: arms crossed leaning up against a tree. He surveyed his surroundings to find that nothing had changed, except the fire, which had gone out. He held a hand to his head and shook it a bit.

"_What a crazy dream,_" he thought.

He quickly recovered however and chuckled a bit. As he began to try to drift back to sleep, now that he didn't need to fear what he went through, he thought one thing.

_"But a dream nonetheless."_


	4. Chapter 4

_"I get by with a little help from my friends."_ -John Lennon

.

Lucario's Aura Sphere shot from his hands and raced along, parallel to the ground. It struck a tree that was his target, but then dispersed. Lucario gritted his teeth in frustration.

_"Darn!_" he thought. He calmed down a bit when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Just relax, Lucario, keep calm and try again. If you're frustrated, then you won't be able to focus. Just believe in yourself. I know that you'll get it right soon, just keep trying," Ash said.

Lucario was currently trying to improve his Aura Sphere, but was having little success. After Lucario's breakdown, Ash suggested that they take a break, or maybe even stop training for the night. But an hour later, after Lucario had calmed down, he wanted to continue, so here they were. They had made progress on the aim and speed of the Aura Sphere, but they weren't having as much luck with its power.

Lucario brought his arms to his side again and formed an Aura Sphere between them. He then thrusted his arms forward and launched the sphere at the tree again. Unfortunately, it was just a repeat of the last one he fired, with the tree being able to take the attack. Lucario was getting annoyed; there must've been something he was doing wrong, but what? Luckily, this was when a certain one of Ash's Pokémon decided to step in.

"_Bui Buizel Bui Bui Zel Buizel? _(Do you want some advice from me Lucario?)" asked the Sea Weasel Pokémon. Lucario looked at Buizel in surprise.

"_You mean...you can help me?_" Lucario asked in surprise.

Ash's eyes widened in realization. "Ah, that's right! Your Water Pulse is kinda like Lucario's Aura Sphere. If you can teach Lucario to fire his attack the same way that you do, we might make a breakthrough!" Ash said. Buizel nodded at Ash's deduction and then began to explain to Lucario what was happening when he fired his attack.

(More Translated Poke speech)

"Alright Lucario, here's what you're doing wrong. You see, I've watched you fire your attack multiple times and noticed that your arms aren't putting any effort in. You're just relying on the attack alone, just like you did with your Force Palm. So, try pushing your arms as hard as you can when you fire it, it's what I do." Buizel explained.

Lucario nodded at Buizel's instructions and turned back to the tree that was his target. This time, he knew what he needed to do. Repeating the process for creating the Aura Sphere, he looked at the tree. Remembering the feeling of strength that he experienced while improving his Force Palm, he tried to recreate it. Soon after he began to focus, the same feeling of power returned to him.

"_This is it...,_" he thought.

With the power of the Aura Sphere, and himself, he launched the sphere.

The radiating ball of life left the space between Lucario's palms and traversed. Everyone held their breath as it zoomed towards the tree. It was getting closer. Just a few meters away, and time seemed to slow down. Finally, the sphere reached its destination.

**_CRACK! _**

With the sounds of splintering wood, a grin grew on everyone's faces. This was definitely a great development. The tree toppled over to the right, thankfully, away from any of Ash's Pokémon.

"Alright, way to go Lucario!" Ash cheered.

"_Bui Bui Buizel Zelbui Zel Buizel Bui Zel Zel Bui Buizel Buizel _(Nice job Lucario, keep this up, and there'll be no trees left for you to knock down,)" Buizel said. All three laughed at the joke that Buizel made.

Ash kneeled down and pet Buizel's head. "Thanks buddy, you really helped out a lot," Ash said to the water type.

"_Yeah, thank you so much Buizel,_" Lucario said.

The Sea Weasel Pokémon simply grinned and gave a thumbs-up before he went away to talk to Squirtle. Ever since he discovered that the Tiny Turtle Pokémon could use Hydro Pump, he had shown an interest in learning it, and Squirtle had offered to teach him.

Ash looked at the retreating form of Buizel, then turned back towards Lucario. "So, ya wanna, throw a few more Aura Spheres around? To, you know, get the feel of it?" he asked. Lucario looked at Ash briefly before nodding.

"_Yeah that's a good idea,_" Lucario replied.

While Lucario was getting used to firing proper Aura Spheres, Ash looked up at the sky and saw that the moon was directly above them, signifying that it was midnight.

"_Hmm, it's late; we need to finish up soon,_" Ash thought.

He shifted his gaze to some of his Pokémon, some were awake, but most of them were asleep, Ash smiled as he saw the peace on their faces and wondered what they were dreaming.

"_Yeah, I think I got it now. Hey Ash, what's next?_" Lucario asked after he threw one last Aura Sphere.

Ash turned around to face him.

"Well Lucario, it's getting really late, so I think that we have just enough time for one last training session," Ash informed.

Lucario looked down at the ground. To be totally honest, he didn't want to stop training. Never in his life had he ever felt that he'd accomplished so much.

"_And it's all thanks to Ash,_" he thought.

He felt a comforting hand on his head and looked up to see Ash.

"Hey, come on Lucario, after this bit of training, you'll need some sleep," Ash said.

Lucario looked up at Ash and, after letting out a sigh of acceptance, nodded.

"I promise, I saved the best for last," Ash said.

Lucario cocked his head to the side in curiosity. "_And what's that Ash?_" he asked.

Ash grinned at the Aura Pokémon.

"Get ready for a battle Lucario," Ash answered.

* * *

Red eyes glinted in the moonlight. It had taken nearly an entire day, but finally, they had found them. They took a look around the clearing, making sure they were out of sight. They saw a lot of Pokémon around, and every single Pokémon looked very powerful. They then looked to the center of the clearing. They were shocked to find that the Lucario was still alive, fully healed and getting into position for what was looking to be a trial of combat.

They looked across from Lucario to find the Pikachu that scared them away, also prepared for battle. They thought this absolutely ridiculous. That Lucario was incredibly weak, so how could he even consider trying to fight something that was stronger than what nearly killed him? Anyway, there was no need to worry about that rat. Because they had a trump card ready. They bared their fangs in preparation. Any second now...they'd attack.

* * *

Lucario and Pikachu stared at each other, battle ready and focused. "Ready you two?" Ash asked them both.

"_Yeah!_"

"_Pika! _(Yep!)"

"Alright. Lucario, I want you to go all out, Pikachu's really strong, so he can take it. Just relax, and keep a clear mind," Ash said.

He wasn't going to order any attacks, he was going to let both battle independently. Lucario was slightly nervous, but he didn't let it show. Now was the time to be brave.

_TWITCH_

Pikachu suddenly lost all focus when his ears twitched, showing that he had heard something. The confusion on his face, in turn confused Ash and Lucario.

"Huh, Pikachu, what's up buddy?" Ash asked.

Pikachu didn't answer, but instead, turned towards a group of bushes. Ash looked in the direction that Pikachu was facing.

"Someone's there?" Ash asked his companion. Pikachu looked towards Ash and nodded.

Ash eyes narrowed as he looked back to the bushes. "Ok. There's no use hiding, come out or we'll force you to!" Ash called out to the bushes, trying to sound as authoritative as he could.

Nothing happened for a few seconds, but eventually they spotted rustles in the bushes. Ash, Lucario, Pikachu and Ash's Pokémon prepared themselves for trouble.

Now! They knew they were here, they needed to attack now!

The group leapt out of the bushes and into the clearing, widening everyone's eyes at who they were, and waking up all but the most stubborn sleepers, like Charizard and, obviously, Snorlax.

They thought they'd never see them again, but the red and black fur, spiked tip of their tails and curved horns atop their heads showed them that fate wasn't going to be as kind to them as they thought.

All seven of them stood in formation, wait...seven?

Ash had remembered that there was about six Houndooms. So why were there seven now? But then he noticed that the seventh one was obviously much stronger and bigger than the other six. But the Houndoom weren't what Ash was worried about the most. He looked behind him at Lucario. The poor Pokémon was trembling in fright and his eyes showed nothing but complete fear. He took a few steps backward as he remembered what these horrifying creatures could do, what they _did _do.

Ash could sense the extreme distress practically radiating off Lucario. He wanted to tell the Aura Pokémon that everything would be just fine, but he wasn't sure if Lucario would hear him. Ash didn't know what these Houndoom had planned, but he didn't want this to end in violence. Ash decided to go with negotiation.

"Why are you here?" he asked the pack of Dark Pokémon. Six of them remained quiet, but the seventh and strongest one stood up and answered Ash's question.

(This would be too long and take too much hassle to put into Pokespeech, so whenever there is Houndoom dialogue, just imagine they talk with Pokespeech)

"_You should know why we're here, human; it's because of that Lucario and you. We've lost our only source of food because of him, and while I was defending our den, you humiliated the rest of my pack, while they were doing nothing but giving that scum some well-deserved justice._" The leader Houndoom barked at the trainer. Ash listened to Houndoom's rant with attention.

"_That's right, Lucario told me about this,_" Ash thought. He suddenly felt himself get angry. How could they think that a Pokémon like Lucario who was, to be brutally honest, kind of timid, would ever intentionally ruin a whole pack's supply of food? Ash anger was making it hard to seem composed, but he managed to do so and continued his conversation.

"Oh yeah? Listen, I know what Pikachu and I did was the right thing to do. But you saw us doing that. That gives you an excuse to hold a grudge against us. But, do you have proof that Lucario was the one who did it? Did any of you even see him do it?" Ash asked the Houndoom horde.

"_Well...none of us saw him, but there was someone who did, and he told us about it._" The leader growled in response.

"And... you just trusted him?" Ash asked incredulously. He could feel himself losing his composure. His fists were clenched and he was talking through gritted teeth.

This didn't go unnoticed by Lucario who was genuinely touched that Ash was being so defensive of him. The Houndoom looked momentarily bewildered of Ash's question before switching back into their ferocious state.

"_Shut up, human! We didn't come here to negotiate. We came to make sure that none of you will ever leave this forest alive._" the leader barked menacingly.

Ash was shocked that these Pokémon would willingly commit murder, an act that he had hoped that was beneath anyone and everyone. Then again, they had nearly killed Lucario, and would've finished the job if Ash and Pikachu didn't step in, so his hopes had been dashed.

"Please, I don't want this to result in violence," Ash said as calmly as possible.

Currently, Ash was using every bit of willpower he had to not go into a rage at the Houndooms, considering that they had almost killed Lucario, just because someone random came and told them that he was the one responsible for the pack's loss. Fortunately, the pack's focus was only on the trio of Ash, Lucario and Pikachu. They didn't notice the other Pokémon, waiting in the darkness, preparing to attack. Ash looked to them and nodded.

"_Well human, that's too bad; because that's exactly what you're gonna get!_" Houndoom cried as the pack leapt forward.

"NOW!" Ash cried.

The next events happened all at once.

The first Houndoom got taken down by a fierce Rollout, courtesy of Ash's Donphan.

The second one felt himself being picked up by what looked to be a scorpion-like tail, rising high into the sky before being slammed back down again, defeating him. Gliscor flapped his bat-esque wings excitedly as he pulled off his recently mastered move, Seismic Toss.

The third one felt a presence underneath him. He looked down to find the Big Jaw Pokémon with a toothy smile on his face. Before he could register what was happening, Totodile shot a Water Gun straight up at Houndoom. Because of the type advantage and the attack being point-blank, Houndoom lost consciousness almost immediately.

The fourth Houndoom got hit in the side by a bright green blade. This easily knocked him out. Sceptile adjusted the twig in his mouth proudly as his Leaf Blade powered down.

The fifth felt the ground rumble underneath him. That was all he noticed before a small dragon Pokémon by the name of Gible burst out of the earth and dealt a massive blow to the canine's jaw, claiming victory for the Land Shark Pokémon.

The sixth and second-last one suddenly felt something small land on his back, something like a raindrop. But he realized too late that it wasn't water. The object on his back suddenly split open and several vines protruded from it. Before he knew it, Houndoom was ensnared by these vines and felt them sapping away at his strength. With no more strength, he collapsed. Off to the side, Bulbasaur smirked as he saw that his Leech Seed had worked.

Seeing that all this happened at once, the Leader Houndoom, and by extension, the strongest, didn't notice this until the sixth one had fallen. He halted his assault and looked behind him. He was horrified that his entire pack was soundly defeated in mere seconds. He then heard a sound in front of him. Turning back around, he saw Pikachu ready to deliver a big Iron Tail to the head. The Houndoom realized quickly that every single one of these Pokémon outclassed him. With the knowledge that there was no way to win, Houndoom lowered his head, and accepted his fate.

"Pikachu, wait!" Ash cried. Both Pokémon's eyes widened in surprise. Pikachu powered down his Iron Tail and looked at Ash questioningly. Ash looked at the Houndoom, who still had his head down.

"I-I'm sorry we had to resort to defeating your pack, but you wouldn't' have stopped. But right now, you all still have the option to walk away. Please, we don't want to cause you anymore harm," Ash said.

Houndoom was surprised just by how...sincere the voice sounded. Slowly, he raised his head, and his eyes met Ash's. He saw nothing but sincerity in this boy's eyes. He realized that Ash truly didn't want to hurt him or the pack anymore. He knew how much he was outclassed, and seeing that Ash didn't see any reason to continue fighting, he felt as if he didn't need to target him. Humiliation was a much smaller cost then being beat down. However, there was still someone in this area that he had a right to have a grudge on and didn't outclass him.

"Well, you still need to pay for your crimes, you scum!" Houndoom growled at Lucario.

Lucario, who was still shaking in fright while hiding behind Ash, could barely respond.

"_I-I-I swear, I d-didn't do anything to y-y-you,_" he stammered out.

The Houndoom's glare grew even more intense, succeeding in making Lucario even more frightened. His breathing was quiet, yet very quick and his heart rate was skyrocketing. However, he felt these symptoms calm down when he felt a hand tighten around his paw. He looked to his left to see Ash smiling at him.

"Everything's going to be fine, I promise." his face seemed to say. Lucario allowed himself a small smile back before facing back to the dark type.

Houndoom shook his head. "Lies! You did it, I know you did!" He cried. A menacing, almost demonic grin soon found its way onto his face. "And I'm going to make you pay..."

Ash was honestly a little disturbed by the look on the Houndoom's face. This look wasn't normal. This look signified that he wasn't ready to battle, but ready to kill.

Ash wasn't too sure about doing what he was thinking about doing right now. Was it really worth doing this? Was the payoff better than the risk? Eventually, he decided that it was. He turned to the Aura Pokémon, who was clearly freaking out. He didn't know how to put this, so he just decided to come out with everything at once.

"Hey, Lucario...remember how we were about to do a practice battle before they showed up?" Ash asked. Lucario looked to him in confusion.

"_Uhh, yeah. But what does that have to do with-_" Lucario suddenly caught on. "_WHAT?! No! I can't do that! He...He wants to kill me! I'm not strong enough to...to..._"

He was suddenly cut off by Ash.

"Lucario, this is your chance to get over your fears. A chance to battle your inner demons. Winning will mean that you won't be afraid anymore. You want that, don't you?" Ash asked, as if it was even a question.

"_O-Of course I do, but...what if I'm not strong enough to face them?_" Lucario replied.

Ash sighed. He was planning to bring this up at a later time, but it was apparent that Lucario needed to hear this now.

"Lucario, that is what's bringing you down," Ash started. "You think yourself as weak, or at least, you used to. But I noticed that when you were training with me, any qualities of weak within you disappeared. Lucario, the only thing that made you weak was your own lack of confidence. Without that, you are strong, you were always strong and you'll always be strong. All as long as you believe in yourself," Ash finished.

Lucario's eyes widened considerably. He was stunned. Was what Ash said really true? He looked at his paws in silence, his mouth agape.

"_I... I'm strong...?_" he thought to himself.

As if he knew what Lucario was thinking, Ash nodded and added in a thumbs-up. Ash was, however, still wary, and knew for a fact that between battling and not battling, Lucario was leaning way more to the 'not battling' side. He knew for a fact that Lucario was frightened, nobody could blame him.

"Lucario...," Ash said, getting Lucario's attention. "I know that you're strong, but I also know that you're scared," Ash began, using his hand to tilt Lucario's head towards his. Now both the Aura Pokémon and the trainer from Pallet Town were looking at each other.

"If you truly don't want to fight, just say it. I promise, I won't think of you as weak, because I know for a fact that you're stronger than you believe. So much stronger," Ash said.

Lucario was currently at a figurative crossroad. Two choices. One was potentially fatal, and the other one would involve continuing to be scared. He didn't know which one was worse, honestly. But then Ash spoke up again.

"Just look me in the eyes, and the answer will come to you," he said.

He didn't know what Lucario was going to pick. He knew that the only thing that could decide, was Lucario's own heart. Ash looked deep in Lucario's eyes and Lucario did the same with Ash's. The Aura Pokémon could see almost immediately that Ash would support him no matter what choice he picked. Those orbs of hope began to have an effect on Lucario, calming him down, almost as if they reached deep down into his soul and gently soothed it. As he looked in Ash's pure auburn eyes, he suddenly became overcome with memories.

He remembered when his life was spared, thanks to Ash...

_"W-Who are you?"_

_"Don't worry, we're friends. My name's Ash, and this is my buddy Pikachu." _

He remembered when Ash first stroked his head to calm him down...

_"Do you always need a reason to help someone?"_

He remembered how Ash helped him to recover from the attack...

_"Y-You'd really do that?" _

_"Yeah, we promise. Lucario, my family and I will do anything to get you back to your Master."_

He remembered when Ash offered words of encouragement while they were in his mindspace when he was berating himself for being weak...

_"You're lying to yourself Lucario! You're not weak! I know you aren't!" _

He remembered when he and Ash sat next to each other at the lake...how Ash cheered Lucario up and offered to train him. The laughter that they shared together...

_"Why shouldn't I? My Pokémon and I are more than just trainer and battler. We can't be qualified to call ourselves a family if we just thought like that. No, we're more than that. We are friends, we are family..." _

_"We are one."_

"He remembered when Ash trained alongside him, for a while anyway. How he learned to use his moves properly and even added some new moves to his arsenal...

_"So, now that's over, I think it's about time to get to the main event." _

_"Y-You mean...?" _

_"Lucario, it's time for some training!"_

He remembered when Ash took Primeape's Focus Punch full force, since Lucario couldn't dodge...

_"It's not your fault. You couldn't dodge, you couldn't even move, so I just did what came to my mind first, and I'd do it again if I had to." _

He remembered how he was overcome with emotions...

_"I'm so proud of you Lucario..." _

He remembered how Ash comforted him and hugged him tightly...

_"I'm so glad I get to train you..." _

He remembered the bond they now shared...

_"I'm so happy that you're my friend..." _

The choice for Lucario was easy now.

He smiled as he felt his fear melt away and be replaced by the trust he had in the boy in front of him.

"_Ash...I... I can do this!_" He finally said. Ash smiled back.

"Great Lucario!" Ash cried.

The Aura Pokémon began to walk confidently towards Houndoom. He looked behind him to talk to Ash.

"_I'm gonna need some help though...,_" he said.

Ash widened his eyes, knowing what Lucario meant.

"Y-You want me to command you?" he asked.

The Aura Pokémon nodded with a grin on his face. Soon, Ash claimed his own grin.

"Ok...Lucario...I choose you!"

* * *

Unbeknownst to everyone, high up in the sky, three pairs of eyes, six in total glinted evilly in the moonlight. It had been a month and a half since they had seen him, and now not only were his Pokémon out in the open, fresh and ripe for stealing, but he had knocked out six Houndoom and was about to take the seventh one on with a new Pokémon. They debated for a little bit, and eventually decided that given the circumstances being that any single Pokémon there could defeat them, it would be a safer bet to steal the Houndoom. They just needed to wait until the final one was defeated, and then...they'd strike.

* * *

Lucario stood across from Houndoom, Ash standing behind him. The dark canine growled in preparation for the battle to come. Lucario also stood, prepared in a battle stance. Both he and Ash completely trusted one another, and now it was time to put that trust to the test. Now was the time for a battle. Whether it was a battle for revenge or for eliminating fear depended on who the combatant was. But now was finally time.

Ash and Lucario took a deep breath simultaneously. Ash was a veteran of Pokémon battling, but whenever he stood on the opposite side of an opponent, his heart beat a little faster, his muscles tensed and he could feel adrenaline rushing through his very veins. It was an unavoidable feeling, but one that he reveled greatly. Now that Lucario battled with Ash, he also felt these conditions. And now it was time to see he was right to enjoy them.

A few moments passed until they both charged. Growls escaped from both Houndoom's and Lucario's jaws as their foe rushed towards them. It was time to see just how well Lucario and Ash worked together.

"Lucario, use Extremespeed to get close!" Ash called out.

Lucario heard the command and switched into Extremespeed, instantly picking up momentum and reached Houndoom before the dual fire/dark type knew what was happening.

"Great, now use Force Palm!" Ash ordered.

Lucario gathered energy in his palm and then thrusted it towards Houndoom's face. However, the Dark Pokémon had realized what was going on by then and jumped backwards, successfully dodging the attack. Lucario gritted his teeth in frustration, until he heard Ash's voice.

"Don't worry about that, use it on the ground!" Ash called.

Lucario was confused by this tactic, but he believed in whatever plan that Ash had. Without hesitation, he slammed the attack into the ground. The second it hit the ground, a concussive blast shot out of Lucario's palm. The attack broke up the ground, sending a large amount of dust everywhere. Ash grinned.

"_Yes! This strategy can work!_" Ash thought.

Thanks to the dirt and dust, visibility was limited, meaning that Houndoom couldn't see Lucario. Unfortunately, this fact was also vice versa as Lucario couldn't spot Houndoom either.

"Lucario, can you sense Houndoom's aura?" Ash asked.

Lucario almost face palmed. (or facepawed I guess?) Ash was right; he didn't need to use just his eyes to see where Houndoom was. Lucario turned to Ash and nodded.

"Alright, Lucario, find where he is, then get around him, then use Bone Rush!" Ash commanded.

Lucario shut his eyes and focused on the life force surrounding his being. The black appendages on the sides of Lucario's head began to levitate and hover at a horizontal position. Soon, the darkness of his shut eyes had a bright teal permeated through it. Instantly the world was lit up for Lucario again, but in a different way. Anything that contained aura was shown clearly to Lucario, Including Houndoom. Not wasting any time, the Aura Pokémon dashed over to the canine. As soon as he got behind him Lucario put his paws together and then spread them apart, creating a light blue bone of energy. Houndoom was too busy trying to spot Lucario through the wall of dust that was beginning to settle. Unfortunately for him, he didn't realize Lucario was already behind him. Lucario swung the bone of energy at Houndoom from above, landing a painful blow on the dark type's head. As the Houndoom recoiled from the strike, Ash decided to seize the opening.

"Now Lucario, double Force Palm, GO! he yelled.

Lucario was all too happy to oblige. As the bone vanished from existence, Lucario gathered energy in his palms once again. With a sharp intake of breath, he swung his arms straight under Houndoom's snout. The result was expected, but massive. An explosion escaped from Lucario's palms and dealt a large amount of damage to Houndoom, sending him skidding away.

Lucario looked in shock.

"_I... I'm actually winning!_" he thought. He looked to Ash, who smiled. However, it was quickly replaced by a frown, almost panic.

"Lucario, jump!" he cried. The Aura Pokémon obeyed and sprung up just in time to avoid the recovered Houndoom's Crunch attack.

"_But the battle's not over yet!_" Lucario thought bitterly.

Houndoom dug his claws into the ground to make a quick stop and turned around, pouncing towards Lucario. "Oh man, Lucario, quick, use Aura Sphere!" Ash commanded. Lucario hurriedly put his hands to his sides, formed an Aura Sphere and threw it towards his advancing opponent. What neither he nor Ash expected was for the Houndoom to create a Slash attack and destroy the Aura Sphere. As the attack exploded, a cloud of dust covered the area once again. Lucario used his Aura Vision to find Houndoom, and was horrified to find that the dark type was about to unleash another Slash upon him this time. Obviously, the Aura Sphere hadn't deterred Houndoom at all.

As Houndoom's claws began to descend, Lucario suddenly had a flashback to when he was attacked by all six Houndoom at once. He knew how much Slash attacks hurt. But there was nothing he could do now except take it. Ash however, wasn't going to accept that.

"Lucario, use your Extremespeed to get away from there, hurry!" Ash yelled.

He was getting very tense. He wouldn't be as worried as he was now if his opponent didn't have the intention of killing Lucario. Luckily, Lucario noticed Ash's command and sped off with mere inches to spare. He didn't stop running until he was a good ten meters away.

"_Phew, that was close._" Both Ash and Lucario thought. They weren't going to get a break anytime soon however as Houndoom shot a stream of fire from his mouth.

"Tha-That's Flamethrower! Lucario, use Aura Sphere to intercept it, quick!" Ash cried.

Lucario quickly complied and fired another Aura Sphere directly into the Flamethrower.

Both attacks clashed together, pushing at each other, trying to get the upper hand. Both Houndoom and Lucario narrowed their eyes in concentration as one tried to overpower the other one's attack. However, it never got to this point as after a few seconds of clashing, both the attacks exploded and then disappeared, leaving just a panting Lucario and Houndoom.

"_Darn it, I don't think I'll be able to last much longer,_" Lucario thought to himself.

However, solace could be found in the fact that Houndoom was quite worn down as well.

"Lucario, can you keep battling?" Ash called out.

Although Lucario was feeling depleted, he turned to Ash and gave him a nod. Lucario had come too far in this battle to just give up now. He wanted to win, not just to fend off the Houndoom, not just to alleviate his fear and doubt in himself while battling, but also to make Ash proud. Ash also noticed the fire of determination that burned in Lucario. A fire that burned much more brightly than it did a few hours ago.

"Then let's finish this!" he said.

"Lucario, use Close Combat!" Ash commanded. Lucario nodded.

He was tired, and he knew that Ash knew that, so he knew that Ash wanted to finish this now. His paws glowed with a gleaming light and he began to dash towards his foe. Houndoom saw this and realized what was soon to come upon him if he didn't do something. Gritting his jaws in frustration that he was being matched by his enemy, he decided to use one of his most powerful physical moves. His sharp claws matched the color of Lucario's paws and he too began to advance on the Aura Pokémon. The distance closed between them as Lucario's Close Combat and Houndoom's Fury Swipes were about to collide. With one final leap from both of them, the onslaught began.

The barrage of slashing and martial arts was furious and a sight to see. Lucario thought back to every single thing he was taught about hand-to-hand, or in this case, paw-to-claw combat. Houndoom was using his rage and his thirst for revenge to increase the power of his swipes. Ash noticed this and inwardly smiled. Sure with rage came power, but with rage came recklessness, and with recklessness came low attention and poor focus. This was the chance that Ash and Lucario needed.

"Lucario, he's blinded by anger; he'll make a mistake soon, just hang in there until he does!" Ash called out.

Lucario swung another punch at Houndoom and briefly nodded, showing Ash he heard his tip.

For a full two minutes after that, the sparring continued. This gap in Houndoom's assault wasn't showing itself, and Lucario was reaching his limits.

"_Just a little longer, a little longer Lucario, it'll happen,_" Ash thought.

Lucario swung his left arm to the side and knocked Houndoom's paw away, exposing the Dark Pokémon's right side. It was time.

"Now Lucario, go for that exploit!" Ash cried.

Lucario, satisfied that he currently had the upper hand swung his leg towards Houndoom's side. As it struck, Houndoom became temporarily imbalanced and staggered. Knowing what he needed to do, Lucario let a barrage of kicks and punches upon his opponent. The dark canine was never given a chance to counterattack. Lucario, although he was currently not as damaged as Houndoom was about to drop from exhaustion. He needed to finish this now.

Taking a page out of Primeape's book, he bent down and prepared an attack. Just as Houndoom was able to recompose himself, he noticed Lucario bent down ready to strike. Before he could move his body out of the way. Lucario smashed his knee into Houndoom's snout. The dual dark and fire type yelped in pain and was flung up in the air.

"Lucario just one last stretch, use Force Palm!" Ash cried.

With his last reserves of strength. Lucario gathered energy in his palm and thrust it straight into Houndoom's face. With the small amount of time before the blast, Lucario said only one thing to his foe.

**_BOOOM_**

Houndoom was sent flying back across the clearing and into a tree. He slid down the trunk and collapsed on the ground. He was defeated.

Lucario panted heavily. Now that the battle was over, the adrenaline he felt was gone and he felt completely drained. He tried to stand fully upright, but staggered and began to fall. Before he hit the ground however, he felt himself land in someone else's arms. He looked at the face of this person, and smiled when he saw it was Ash.

"_I... won...?_" Lucario mumbled out.

He had claimed his victory in the battle, but still couldn't believe it. Ash smiled as he stroked the Aura Pokémon's head.

"Yeah, you won Lucario. I'm so, so proud of you."

"_Pikapi Chupi_ (Ash, here,)" Pikachu called out.

Ash looked over to the electric type and saw that he was holding an Oran Berry from the tree in the clearing where they got some of the Oran Berries to heal Lucario back when he was near death. Ash gave Pikachu a look of gratitude and then took the berry from his best friend's paws and held it in front of Lucario.

"Here, eat this Lucario," Ash said as he offered the berry to the Aura Pokémon.

Lucario opened his mouth and allowed Ash to feed him the berry. Chewing and allowing the juice and flesh of the berry to go down his throat slowly began to heal him and made his energy return. Soon after, Lucario was back to full health.

"So how do you feel?" Ash asked. He needed to wait a few moments before Lucario replied.

"_I feel awesome. I... I actually won a b-battle...I-I ACTUALLY WON A BATTLE!_" Lucario cried in happiness. Pure joy radiated off his being and a grin of triumph and euphoria plastered his face. Without warning, he grabbed Ash's hands. "_And it's all thanks to you, Ash. Without you, I would've never been able to beat him!_" Ash grinned back at Lucario's smiling face.

"You would've found a way eventually Lucario, I just helped speed things up by commanding you," Ash replied.

"_And if you weren't on my side that whole time, I would've never found that way. I wouldn't have been brave enough. But I was, all because of you. Seriously, thank you so much Ash!_" Lucario said.

Lucario, after a whole life of failure and losing, had finally won his first battle. This was unlike anything that the Aura Pokémon had ever felt. There was suddenly a great well of confidence that Lucario had just unearthed. He felt incredible. Like he could take anything the world could throw at him now. As long as he had Ash by his side, he felt like he could do absolutely anything.

However, the celebration was cut short as a growling noise began to make itself audible. Lucario, Ash and Pikachu turned to the direction the sound was coming from. Six of the Houndoom had formed a kind of defensive wall around their leader and were currently trying to look as intimidating as possible, A courageous move since every one of them were heavily damaged from the assault from Ash's Pokémon.

Ash fixed them with a gaze of both pity and awe. This pack was a well-knit group, every single one willing to give their life to save another. All of them, as weakened as they were, still had incredible determination. The leader slowly opened his eyes and noticed what his pack was doing. With nearly the entirety of his remaining strength, he picked himself up off the ground and gave a fearsome bark, gaining the attention of both his pack and his foes. The wall around him parted and allowed the leader to step through and stand in front of the group of Houndoom.

"_Incredible...,_" Ash thought.

Suddenly, a net dropped down from the sky and scooped up the entire pack of Houndoom in its threads. Everyone gasped in surprise as the dark types were ensnared by the web-like object. The pack of Houndoom were shocked and immediately began to wriggle around. Unfortunately, the net held firm. One of the Houndoom even used a Flamethrower attack on the net, but that didn't affect it, even a little.

Ash suddenly put two and two together. Having nets that were attack resistant and stealing Pokémon were the traits of only one thing, or to be more specific, trio. His fears were realized when the net carrying all the Houndoom began to float off the ground, like something was carrying it. Lucario, Ash and all his other Pokémon looked up at the sky. Ash and his Pokémon grimaced and Lucario was confused at what was in the sky.

Hovering about twenty-five meters above the clearing was a Meowth-shaped hot air balloon. Piloting it was a man with purple hair with a curtained style and green eyes, a woman wearing red lipstick and had a large amount of hair styled into a curve colored a hot pink and blue eyes, and finally, a cream colored feline Pokémon with deep blue eyes, brown-tipped feet and tail and a golden medallion positioned on his forehead. Both the man and woman wore matching outfits although both outfits were suited for the different gender. The similarities between their clothes were obvious though. They both wore black gloves and shoes and they wore white shirts and pants. On the front of their shirt was a light red 'R' symbol. A symbol that Ash knew all too well.

"T-Team Rocket!". Ash cried, half in shock, half in annoyance. Before he could get another word out, the dreaded motto began.

_"Listen, is that a twerpish voice I hear? _

_It's shrieking to me loud and clear. _

_Watch him wail. _

_Watch him fail. _

_Music to my ears! _

_Stealing Pokémon at a breakneck pace. _

_Dashing all hope, putting fear in your face. _

_Having our work done for us is just as sweet. _

_And thanks to the twerp, our work is complete. _

_Jessie! _

_James! _

_Meowth, now dat's a name! _

_Laughing as the do-gooders show their disgrace_

_We're Team Rocket... _

_And we're in your face!" _

Near the end of the motto, a pokeball on Jessie's person burst open, revealing a tall, cyan Pokémon with a soft body with scrunched eyes, a black tail with two eyespots and four stubby legs at the base of his body. He brought his arm up to his forehead in a salute and finished the motto.

"Wobaffet!"

Everyone moaned in displeasure after having to sit through yet another lame motto. Except Lucario, he only had questions, like, how was that Meowth able to speak like a human? And what in the world was going on?

"_Uhh, Ash, who are these guys, do you know them?_" Lucario asked the trainer. He noticed that Ash's head was in his hand and he was groaning in annoyance.

"_A month and a half, a month and a half without them, and yet, they're still as obnoxious as ever...,_" Ash thought. He then looked up to Lucario and answered his question.

"Believe me Lucario, I wish I didn't. These idiots call themselves Team Rocket and they go around trying to steal Pokémon. They follow me everywhere I go and try to steal my Pokémon. Basically, they're a trio of Pokémon "thieves." "Ash explained, using air quotes at the word 'thieves'.

Team Rocket noticed this and were insulted. "Hey, twerp! At least we've stolen your Pokémon on several occasions. We're not bad thieves if we can do that."

Lucario turned to Ash in shock. These guys had actually stolen some of Ash's Pokémon, all of whom he had an extremely close bond with? Before he could say how horrible that was, Ash called back up to Team Rocket.

"Oh yeah, then how come they're here right now?" That shut them up. "It seems that if you guys were good at what you do, I wouldn't have been able to get them all back," Ash continued. He then turned to Lucario. "Note how they didn't deny the idiot thing," he said with a grin.

Lucario chuckled at the hilarity of that one statement, Meowth then jumped up onto the rim of the green basket and started pointing at Ash.

"Well at least we're better at what we do than you are at what you do! Look who's lost in every League he's ever entered, most recently, da Sinnoh League!" Meowth retorted.

Ash's eyes widened as that one sentence was said. He hung his head in regret and let his arms fall to his sides. Some of Ash's Pokémon even came over to comfort him. They all knew his defeat at the hands of Paul was a sore subject for him. The only reason that he could tell his story to Lucario was because he needed to hear it. But since it was thrown out blatantly like this, it wounded Ash's pride as a trainer. Soon however, everyone noticed that Ash's hands had clenched up into fists. The trainer then whispered something to himself.

"Team Rocket, you just bought yourselves a blast off..."

"It's been a long time, twerp. Did you miss us? We saw you weren't leading the other girl twerp and the boy twerp anymore and we just had to know what happened to you." Jessie said in a snarky tone.

"Yeah, lucky for us, we were able to see Pikachu's attack earlier. We've been hit by that attack more than enough times to know exactly what it comes from," James continued. He suddenly felt two hits to the back of his head and he yelped in pain.

"We don't say stuff like that James!" Jessie growled.

"Yeah, if you were da brains behind this thing, we'd have zero dignity!" Meowth yelled.

"_Pika Pika Pikachu Chu Pika Ka _(You already have zero dignity!) Pikachu called up to the trio. Meowth looked at Pikachu.

"Says the da rat who lead us here!" he retorted. Jessie then looked at Ash who still had his head down.

"Anyway twerp, we need to thank you. We wouldn't have been able to steal these Houndoom if it weren't for you." James, who had recovered from his injuries, continued.

"Yeah, and now that we got what we came for, we'll say so long to you twerp."

Ash growled. They were trying to escape with the Houndoom. Truth be told, Ash was a little surprised that they weren't going after Pikachu or any of his other Pokémon. But given the fact that everyone was out and ready to attack on Ash's order, it was probably a wiser move to steal the already weakened group of Houndoom. Ash gritted his teeth in rage as he found out that he assisted in something that he actively tried to stop whenever it happened. Well, now he was going to fix it.

Unfortunately, just as Ash was about to use one of his flying types to pierce the balloon like he usually did, something unexpected happened.

"Seviper, use Haze!" Jessie commanded.

As that command was uttered, the fang snake Pokémon uncoiled itself from the bottom of the balloon basket. She was mostly black, but had several markings on her body. She had yellow hexagon markings that run from her head to her tail, small yellow bumps where it touched the ground, and various purple scar-like marks. She possessed elongated red fangs that protruded from her upper jaw and fierce red eyes. The tail was partially red and had a blade-like shape.

Opening her jaw, Seviper let loose a thick, black smoke cloud that soon covered the entire area. The occupants of the area eye's widened in surprise, before being closed again due to the foul smog.

Ash brought an arm up to cover his eyes as the Haze enveloped him and his Pokémon. He then heard an annoying laughter coming from above him.

"Ya see twoip, we're not idiots now, huh?" Meowth said in his usual scratchy voice.

"We came prepared this time. You really think we would've tried to do this without a plan?" Jessie asked.

"_Wouldn't have surprised me,_" Ash thought.

"Hee Hee Hee Hee, how does it feel to know that we've pulled something off while you're around? That you failed to stop us? How we did it so easily and without fear?" James taunted.

Ash, still blinded by the Haze, looked up in frustration to where he presumed the balloon to be.

"If you're doing this without fear, then how come you're running?"

Silenced by such a comeback, Team Rocket decided it would be best to quit while they were ahead. They piloted the balloon away from the clearing with the Houndoom in tow. In a few moments, there'd be nothing Ash or anyone could do. There was too much area to cover for his flying types to get rid of the smoke with a Gust attack in the amount of time they had. As much as Ash hated to admit it, Team Rocket were actually using their heads for once. Must've been something to do with their brains not being fried by Pikachu's Thunderbolt for over a month. An idea suddenly came to Ash. He turned in the direction he assumed Lucario was in.

"Hey *cough* L-Lucario, you can sense their aura, can't you?" Ash asked.

Lucario looked at Ash, or at least where his voice came from. He knew what Ash was suggesting

"_You think that I can hit them from that far away?_" he asked.

Ash coughed again. "Y-Yeah, just focus on only their aura and your Aura Sphere will hit."

Lucario then turned away from Ash and closed his eyes. Before long, Lucario's world exploded into a teal color, showing all aura signatures, including Team Rocket. With no time to waste, Lucario created an Aura Sphere between his paws and fired it at the balloon.

The trio of Pokémon thieves were laughing victoriously as they were convinced they were going to get away, were suddenly silenced as a bright ball of aura suddenly emerged from the Haze and nailed Seviper in the face, sending her flying backwards into the balloon's burner.

"NOO!" The three cried simultaneously.

Sparks shot off the piece of tech and James frantically pulled on the cord trying to restart the burner. This bared no fruit as it was broken due to the force of the Fang Snake Pokémon slamming into it. Without anything to create hot air, the balloon slowly began to sink from the sky. Panic was worn by every member of Team Rocket's faces. Even more unfortunately for them, when Seviper, was knocked back, she was also knocked out. That meant that they weren't able to use Haze as cover anymore. Ash still couldn't see the trio, but judging by their horrified cries, it was safe to assume that Lucario had scored a direct hit. Now was his chance.

"Pidgeot, Noctowl, Swellow, Staraptor, quick, use Gust to get rid of the Haze!" he called out.

All of the flying types heard the order and started to rapidly flap their wings, creating a strong wind that began to blow the smoke away. In a short while, the thick smog had been completely purged from the clearing. Team Rocket were mortified that they were once again getting beaten by Ash again. They had no option to flee, and didn't have any cover. They only had one thing left that they could do: fight.

"Yanmega, it's time to rumble!" Jessie called out, throwing a pokeball and summoning a Pokémon that resembled a dragonfly.

Carnivine, let's do this!" James cried as he too, threw out a pokeball. A Pokémon resembling a Venus Flytrap burst out of his pokeball and immediately began to chew on James' head. "AHH, I said let's do this, not let's chew this!" he wailed as he pried the Fly Catcher Pokémon off his head and threw him into battle.

Ash looked to Lucario. "Up for another round?" he asked. A grin showed on Lucario's face, the answer being obvious to him.

"_Yeah, let's teach these crooks a lesson!_" Lucario said with confidence.

Just then, a certain yellow electric type jumped in.

"_Pika Pikachu Pi Pi Pikachu Kachu Chu Pi Pika Pika Pikachupi _(Hey, I'm not missing the opportunity to give these guys a beat down!)" Pikachu said as he let sparks dance around his red cheeks. Ash grinned at his best buddy's enthusiasm.

"Well, who am I to say no? Go for it, buddy," Ash said.

Both Pikachu and Lucario stood side by side, as did Carnivine and Yanmega. And, with no words being needed, the battle commenced.

"Carnivine, use Bullet Seed!"

"Yanmega, use Ancient Power!"

The Rockets were expecting a look of panic to come across Ash's face as this combo had given him a bit of trouble in the past. As Carnivine shot out a stream of yellow high velocity seeds at his opponents while Yanmega's body glowed white, creating a silver ball of energy in front of her and fired it forward, it seemed like a repeat of the past. Ash however, as he said a few hours ago, he was more of a "what's-happening-now" guy. And that meant he always tried to live in the present, not usually letting things that had happened or were going to happen, slow him down.

Ash grinned, much to the Rocket's surprise. "Pikachu, use Iron Tail to destroy the Ancient Power, and Lucario, use Bone Rush to deflect Bullet Seed!" He commanded.

As the command was uttered, they had already won the battle. Pikachu's tail shimmered with a silver, metallic glint and Lucario got a bone of energy ready in his hands. Moments before the attacks struck, the Mouse and Aura Pokémon made their move.

With flawless timing, Pikachu jumped up into the air and almost effortlessly smashed the Ancient Power away. At the same time, Lucario began to spin his attack in his hands like a baton twirler. At the last second, the attack had gained enough speed to block off all the seeds. Team Rocket opened their eyes wide and let their jaws hang. Ash grinned at them.

"Oh, don't act surprised. I always do stuff like this to turn the tables, heh, even if they weren't against me in the first place," Ash said in a kind of eerie voice. Team Rocket then wore frustrated faces.

"Don't get in over your head twerp, you only blocked our attacks." Jessie growled.

"Yeah, the battle isn't over yet!" James spat.

Ash only replied with one thing. "Isn't it...?"

He then looked up to the sky. "Now guys!" he called.

With shocked expressions on their faces, the trio of rockets and their Pokémon suddenly noticed that their opponents weren't there anymore. Somehow, they had moved at a speed so fast that it seemed like it just vanished. With great horror, both Yanmega and Carnivine they found both Lucario and Pikachu right above their heads, Pikachu with a readied Iron Tail and Lucario had the bone of energy raised above his head, ready to strike. With a cry of "_Pika!_" and an Aura shout of "_Take this!_" the two then swung tail and bone at their foes. The blows came down right upon their heads, and with those strikes, they felt their consciousness fade. And soon there lay, sprawled on the ground, a fainted Yanmega and Carnivine.

Team Rocket gasped. Sure the twerp had defeated them countless times, but this time, he'd utterly destroyed them, in under a minute too. Not knowing what else to do, they held out their pokeballs and sucked their Pokémon back into them. The realization finally sank in. They were finished. The confident smile didn't leave Ash's face.

"You've lost Team Rocket, your balloon's busted, your Pokémon are defeated and everyone here is itching to blast you off," Ash said.

As the Pokémon thieves looked around the clearing, they saw that all Pokémon awake were ready to send them skyward. Both Pikachu and Lucario walked to Ash's side. He gave a warm smile to both of them.

"Well done guys. I'm so proud of you," he said as he pet both their heads. They both grinned at Ash's praise. Ash then looked at Bulbasaur. "Alright, Bulbasaur, use your Razor Leaf to get the Houndoom down! Pikachu and Lucario, use Aura Sphere and Thunderbolt!" Ash commanded.

With no hesitation, Bulbasaur released a wave of sharp leaves towards the rope keeping the net attached to the balloon's basket. At the same time, Lucario and Pikachu fired their attacks towards the trio of rockets who wailed in terror as an all too familiar scene played out before their eyes. As the jagged bolt and sphere of aura sped their way to the balloon and its occupants, they somehow fused together, making an Aura Sphere with its own electrical aura surrounding it. At the exact same time that the rope was severed, both attacks struck the balloon. Time seemingly stopped for a few seconds, anticipation wafting throughout the clearing. Then...

**_KA-BOOOM! _**

With a mighty explosion that had the force to push back trees and the sound to wake any nearby sleepers, (Once again, except Snorlax) Team Rocket's balloon exploded. Following routine, the trio of Jessie, James and Meowth were hurled far above into the night sky.

"NO! All that time mentally preparing for when we saw the twerp again. All wasted!" Jessie screeched as she balled her fists in rage.

"Mental preparation? We came up with dat scheme in less than a minute! Dat was nothing but improv!" Meowth yelled back.

"I guess that having a plan to improvise wasn't the best one to have." James said, his arms and legs crossed and a look on his face that was a mix of frustration and acceptance.

"But hey, we pulled all that off out of nowhere, imagine how we'll do next time when we actually have a plan to pull off," James continued, his face gaining a smirk. Soon, both Jessie and Meowth's faces mirrored his. "But until then..."

"We're blasting off again!" the trio cried at the same time.

They flew even further away and eventually became left the sight of the ones in the clearing. A shimmering white star suddenly appeared in the sky, signifying that Team Rocket had now entered Low-Earth-Orbit.

"_Yeah, we sure showed them!_" Lucario cheered. Ash smiled at the Aura Pokémon.

"See? What did I tell ya? They're all idiots," Ash said.

Their celebration was suddenly cut off as the sound of a splash echoed throughout the clearing. Everyone suddenly gasped as they remembered that Team Rocket's position when the Houndoom were cut loose, was over the lake. "No!" Ash cried in horror as he looked towards the middle of the lake. It wasn't noticeable at first, but it could be seen that bubbles were surfacing and popping.

"They'll drown!" Ash cried.

Before anyone could stop him, Ash dashed over to the lake's edge. His clothes were still kind of damp from the last time he entered the water and it was freezing. However, Ash didn't care. With resolve to not let the canines die, he dove into the icy water, making his Pokémon cry out in worry.

Ash instantly felt the chill of the lake as he hit the water. It wasn't healthy for humans to go to such a cold temperature so quickly. It was possible that Ash would be forced to involuntarily inhale, resulting in drowning. Hypothermia was definitely a possibility too. Ash didn't care though. He was lucky enough to not experience the full brunt of these consequences. The only thing on his mind as he swam deeper and deeper, was to save the group of Houndoom from their grim fate.

Soon, he discovered a struggling black silhouette at the bottom of the lake. A mass of bodies that were squirming and doing the very best they could to get off the bottom. They weren't succeeding however and it was obvious at a glance that they all had very little air left. With as much speed as he could muster, Ash swam down to the net of drowning Pokémon.

Reaching the net, he shot his hand out and grabbed the threads of the net, gaining the attention of the group of Houndoom. They could hardly believe their eyes. Here was a human, one whom they'd attacked, rescuing them. With widened eyes, they watched as the determination on this boy's face grew as he began to pull them up.

Thanks to them being submerged in water, the weight of all the Houndoom were significantly reduced. An average Houndoom weighed about thirty-five kilograms, so, on land, their combined weight would be about 245 kilograms. But since they were underwater, that weight was cut down to about sixty kilograms. Still, it wasn't an easy trial for Ash. Dragging that much weight behind him was slowing him down and hurting his muscles, something that the cold water was already doing, not to mention that he was also running out of air. He suddenly realized that he was a few meters from the surface of the lake, in a few seconds, he would have everyone out of this situation.

Then without warning, disaster struck.

Ash suddenly felt his muscles lock up, the cold finally getting to him. He could barely move his arms and legs, much less use them to swim up.

"_No! I can't let this happen; I can't let them die!_" Ash thought.

He didn't care what happened to him, but these Pokémon weren't going to die, not on his watch. With as much strength and vigor as he could muster, Ash began to kick as hard as he could, teeth gritted, determination in his eyes. But no matter how much he tried, he couldn't get any closer to the top. In fact, he was being pulled back down by the weight of the Houndoom who were also suffering the same effects as Ash.

Finally, Ash couldn't hold his breath anymore. His lung were screaming for air. Ash, unable to help it, attempted to inhale. Of course, this led to water instantly filling up his mouth and allowed water to go down into his lungs. Air bubbles exited from his mouth and began to rise towards the surface. Ash panicked and shut his mouth to stop water from getting in, but there was no point. Any and all air had now been depleted from Ash's lungs and he could feel himself steadily growing weaker. Slowly, his thrashing began to cease and he began to sink even deeper. The Houndoom noticed this and adopted a state of fear that Ash had run out of strength. Pokémon, among other things, could hold their breath a bit longer than humans could, Houndoom included. This gave them more time, but they also possessed a weakness to water, an element that they were currently submerged in. Same as Ash, the canines had become drained of their strength.

Ash didn't want to give up, he wanted to keep going. He focused on trying to move anything, a limb, a hand, even a finger, but the most he could do was continue to grasp the net containing the seven dark Pokémon.

"_I... can't... let... this... happen... gotta... keep... trying...,_" Ash thought desperately. But his body wouldn't let him move.

"_No... I-I... can't..._"

Ash's eyelids began to lower.

"_...die...here..._"

Ash's eyes closed. All his energy was expanded, even if he let go of the net, there'd be no way he would reach the top, not that he'd ever let go anyway. He felt himself hit the bottom of the lake. His lungs were about to burst due to lack of oxygen, but as much as Ash wanted, there was nothing he could do about it. All he could feel now was pain.

**_SPLASH! _**

Ash suddenly snapped back into reality when he heard a splash sound above. Before he could register this, he heard a few more splashes. Eventually, he was able to open his eyes and noticed a total of four figures above him.

One of the figures suddenly became enveloped in a kind of water veil, shifting the water around it. Without warning, it suddenly sped up, closing the distance between it and Ash at a tremendous speed. Within a few seconds, the being had reached Ash, making it easier for the Pallet native to identify it as his loyal Sea Weasel Pokémon Buizel.

With a look of panic on his face, the water type quickly grabbed Ash's free hand with both his paws. After getting a strong grip and ensuring himself that Ash was secure, Buizel then began to inflate the yellow flotation sack around his neck. As it filled with air, Ash felt himself being lifted from the watery depths. Buizel used both his legs and both his tails, which he rotated, to propel themselves upwards, towards the surface. Their ascent was suddenly slowed down significantly. Buizel looked down and saw that Ash was still holding on to the net. If Ash was by himself, Buizel would be able to pull him up, but not when Ash was towing along seven Houndoom.

Buizel fixed Ash with a look that said "Ash, if we don't leave them, you're gonna die." Truth be told, Buizel was a powerful swimmer and could probably bring them all up by himself. However, that would take too long, and they didn't have any time left if the oxygen-deprived Ash was anything to say about it. Ash, picking up on Buizel's message, simply shook his head. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if these Houndoom died. Buizel gritted his teeth in frustration. Why did his trainer have to be so selfless? Did Ash need to be reminded that his life had been threatened by these very same creatures not ten minutes ago?

Knowing that Ash wasn't going to let go, Buizel began to go into overdrive, putting all his efforts into reaching the top faster. Ash, deciding that it wasn't fair for Buizel to do this by himself, poured every ounce of willpower he could into kicking his legs. He could only manage a below average tempo. Just then, their speed suddenly increased exponentially, much to the duo's and Houndoom's surprise. Surely Ash's attempts hadn't made that much of a difference, had they? Then, all of them heard three sounds that they were very grateful to hear.

"_Squirtle Urtle Squirt Squirt!_"

"_Corphish Cor Cor!_"

"_Toto Totodile To!_"

Glancing behind them, Ash, Buizel, and the Houndoom's faces washed over with relief. Helping with the net of dark types, were the combined forces of Squirtle, Corphish and Totodile. With both Squirtle and Totodile pulling from the sides and Corphish pushing up from underneath, the whole group began advancing to the top with great speed. Within a few seconds, they were only meters from the top.

"_Just one more push guys, we can do it!_" Ash thought.

* * *

Pikachu trembled with worry, along with Ash's other Pokémon. Ash hadn't come up for about two minutes. Most of Ash's water types had dived in to assist their trainer. They were water types, which obviously meant that they were the best ones suited to go down.

For a few seconds, nothing happened, except for several bubbles that surfaced before popping.

Lucario was doing his best to keep calm. "_Ash can't be dead, he's so much stronger than that. Please, please let me be right. If Ash is dead then...,_" Lucario stopped that train of thought, with great difficulty as worry was currently wracking his entire being.

Ash. He had saved his life, showed him what comfort and compassion felt like, gave him food, helped him train and even brought him to winning his first ever battle. He'd barely known Ash for one day, and he was already indebted to him. Words couldn't describe how much he appreciated Ash and what he did for him. That's why it hurt him so much to think that Ash was currently facing death, drowning at the bottom of a lake. He deserved so much better than that! In fact, he wouldn't even be in this position if he didn't dive in to save those Houndoom.

This caliber of compassion was nearly foreign to Lucario. He had asked himself a lot of times. Why do this? Why not let them drown and give them the deaths that they deserve? At first, he was mad that Ash was being this stupid. Maybe doing it in vain as the Houndoom would probably sink their fangs into his neck. Lucario shuddered and subconsciously touched his right arm in the place where it was bitten.

Soon after however, he realized what he was saying. How could he say that he would gladly stand by and watch lives perish before him? Ash sure didn't do that when the opportunity arose. He chose to step in and save Lucario's life. Actually wanting someone to die would make him no better than the Houndoom. Still, in his mind, Ash was being an idiot that was saving Pokémon that didn't deserve to be saved. And now, he was dying for it, presumably anyway.

Lucario grabbed his shaking hand with the other, trying to calm himself down and attempted to placate his anxiety.

"_Please...,_" Lucario whispered a silent prayer with tears beginning to form in his eyes. "_Please don't let him die...he's...he's..._"

"._..my best friend..._"

No sooner had he said this, a tremendous curtain of water suddenly shot up from below the aquatic surface. A few seconds later, everyone in the clearing's eyes widened in joy. As the water that stood suspended in the air for a short time fell back down, a certain group was revealed.

Unfortunately, for this certain group, they overestimated the speed they'd need after exiting the water and as a result, were sent flying. Luckily, they landed in some soft grass which partially cushioned the fall. While all the water types were shaking off their stupor, Ash and the Houndoom quickly took some precious air into their lungs. Ash spat out some water resting in the back of his throat onto the grass beneath him. Eventually, Ash managed to get onto all fours and steady himself. Gasping to a point of near hyperventilation, he breathed out and in for as long as his pained lungs would allow him to before they sent a strike of pain through his respiratory system which caused him to cough out water. The Houndoom were just barely faring a bit better.

The water types who assisted Ash hurried over to him along with Ash's other Pokémon. Buizel pat Ash's back to help dislodge some more water while the others helped to steady Ash. Water droplets fell from Ash's clothes giving the obvious indication that Ash was thoroughly soaked.

"I-I... I-I-I"

Everyone was shocked as they saw that Ash was trying to say something.

"_Pika Pika Pikachu Pikapi Chu Pika Pikachu Pi Ka Chupi Pi Pikachu Pi _(Don't try to talk Ash, save your strength.) Pikachu advised. However, Ash didn't listen.

"I g-g-guess that th-this is what I get for t-t-trying to be the h-h-hero," Ash said through chattering teeth.

Amazingly, Ash managed a smile on his face and let out a chuckle, which definitely shocked everyone, especially Lucario. Who would be able to shrug off a near death experience like that? Had Ash been through so many adventures that him almost being killed was practically par for the course.

Lucario would later find out that he hit the nail right on the head with that assumption. Ash then turned to face the four water types that had saved him from certain death.

"Thank y-y-you so much g-g-g-guys. I'm s-so lucky to have you on my t-t-team," he said to his rescuers.

Without warning, he suddenly coughed up some more water from his lungs and spat it out, making Buizel pat his back again. In turn, Ash raised his hand from the ground and placed his hand on Buizel's head, surprising the Sea Weasel Pokémon. Ash looked to the rest of the water types and flicked his head, signaling that they didn't need to stay out. Their worried faces soon slowly shifted to smiling ones as they began to hug Ash out of sheer joy that he was alive.

Pikachu especially was thrilled that Ash wasn't dead and wiped away the tears that were brimming in his eyes. Soon, he joined in on the group hug as well. Ash wrapped his arms around the electric type's small frame and gave a smile that only he could do, one that convinced everyone that everything was going to be alright.

Ash then looked to Corphish. "Hey buddy, do you t-t-think that you could...," he trailed off as he looked to the net full of recovering Houndoom.

Corphish got the message and nodded. The water type scuttled over to the net and slid his pincers in between the threads of the net. With his pincers glowing a white light and a cry of "_Cor!_" Corphish used his Vicegrip attack and snipped the threads apart. The Houndoom were momentarily surprised that Corphish's move was able to break the net, something that their Flamethrowers couldn't do. At a tremendous speed, Corphish began to work his way around the rest of the net, splitting the strands and freeing the dark canines. Soon, the net was nothing more than a mess of threads on the ground and the Houndoom were finally free of its confines. With a weak stumble in each of their movements, they attempted to get off each other or get others off them, allowing them to get more oxygen in their systems

By this time, Ash, who had slightly recovered, shakily began to stand up. With the help of Buizel, he was able to get into a kneeling position. Slowly, he was able to get into a position where he could brace his left arm against his knee. Seeing that Ash was trying to get up, Lucario rushed over and began to help, seeing that he was the only Pokémon in the clearing that could match Ash's height so he could be supported as painlessly as possible.

Lucario bent down and looked to Ash, signaling that he was going to help. Ash smiled at Lucario and allowed the Aura Pokémon to put his right arm around his shoulder. With Ash secured, Lucario slowly stood back up, so as to not overstress Ash's body. With slightly drooped eyes and a small smile, he looked to Lucario.

"T-T-Thanks, buddy," Ash said weakly. Lucario looked back at Ash and returned a smile of his own.

"_No problem, Ash,_" Lucario responded, happy he was helping out. His face then turned serious. "_Still, we gotta get you over by the fire, you're freezing!_" Lucario informed.

He then began to guide Ash to the campfire that was dying down a little bit, but would burn brightly again after a few more pieces of wood was thrown on it.

"W-Wait!" Ash cried, making Lucario stop in shock.

"_W-What is it Ash?_" Lucario asked. In response, Ash turned his head and looked at the group of Houndoom with a look of pity.

"We g-g-gotta help th-them t-too...," Ash said.

Lucario looked at Ash, he learned to accept Ash's compassion so this wasn't really shocking for him. What he was feeling more of at this time, was uncertainty.

"_Uh, are you sure Ash? I mean, I don't mean to be insensitive, but they did try to kill us,_" Lucario replied.

But deep down, he knew that Ash was going to have a counter-argument. And he did. Ash took a deep breath and tried to compose himself and stop his shivering.

"Lucario, do you want me to tell you something I learned a long time ago?" Ash asked. Lucario nodded, thinking that Ash was going to say something wise, and once again, he was right. Ash closed his eyes and recited the words he'd taken to heart a while ago.

"There's no Pokémon that's better than any other."

"There's no Pokémon that's worse than any other."

"They're all precious creatures."

"And the song sung by any one of these precious creatures is sweet if you can hear it."

"You see, there are no reasons for Pokémon to be bad, there are only motives for them to do bad things. I don't think I've ever seen a Pokémon who was being bad without a good reason. Most of the time in fact, it's because they have a bad trainer. But these Houndoom don't deserve to be shunned and left to freeze, so we gotta help them," Ash explained.

Lucario was momentarily speechless at another one of Ash's speeches. But due to a day of being around him, he was able to recover.

"_Yeah, you're right,_" Lucario said, relenting.

He started to guide Ash over to the group of Houndoom, who noticed them. They were all too weak to fight, and would be terribly outclassed and outnumbered if they weren't. They couldn't even run away. The only thing they could do was cower at the thought of how they would be punished. They saw the human who attempted to save them being supported by the Lucario they had tried to kill. They watched as they stopped right in front of them and wondered what this guy was going to do. They were indeed surprised to not see a face of malice on the boy, or even the Lucario, but soft smiles and eyes that made the Dark Pokémon feel warm inside, safe even. Still they were frightened, their confident and intimidating demeanor was depleted.

Ash nodded to Lucario giving him the signal to give him a chance to see if he could walk on his own. Lucario hesitated a bit, but eventually sighed and let Ash have his way. Once Lucario had removed himself as support, Ash almost immediately faltered. However, he was able to steady himself and stand up tall. After a few moments had passed, he was able to stand normally without much effort, apart from the occasional shudder. Gathering his thoughts, Ash took a breath and asked one question...

"Can any of you stand?" He asked with a voice of concern and worry.

This again, shocked the Houndoom. Why was this kid so...so...nice?

To answer his question, they all attempted to get up, with great difficulty. Ash was very impressed. These Houndoom had been demolished by his Pokémon, captured by Team Rocket and almost drowned, yet they still had energy left to stand. Eventually, all of them were able to get to their feet, but it was blatantly obvious that they were having a hard time staying standing. Noticing this, Ash looked to his Pokémon.

"We gotta help them out," he said gesturing to the exhausted pack.

His Pokémon nodded and dashed in to assist. Strangely enough, the Pokémon that helped the Houndoom were the ones that knocked them down in the first place: Donphan, Gliscor, Totodile, Sceptile, Gible and Bulbasaur. With their help, the pack were able to stand a little easier. The Pokémon looked to their trainer awaiting further instructions. Ash smiled as he saw his Pokémon helping out.

"Good, now, help them over to the fire," Ash said.

They nodded and began to help the Houndoom over to the small, but warm fire. Ash looked to his Flame Pokémon.

"Hey, Infernape, can you use your Mach Punch on one of the knocked down trees and bring the wood to the fire? It's pretty weak," he asked.

Infernape nodded and dashed off to do his assigned task. Finally, Ash turned to Pikachu.

"Hey buddy, can you grab a few more Oran Berries?"

Pikachu saluted without hesitation and sped off to pick a few berries from the tree.

Suddenly, Ash sneezed. He had been so occupied with the Houndoom, he'd forgotten that he was cold too. Lucario looked to Ash.

"_Heh, looks like you need to get yourself to the fire as well,_" he said with a soft smile.

Ash didn't respond with words. He merely chuckled and nodded his head. Ash took one step towards the fire, but lost his footing almost immediately. He gasped as he felt himself falling forward. Thankfully, before he hit the ground, he was caught by Lucario. Ash looked up at Lucario's worried face. He met it with a mellow grin.

"Mind helping me out a bit?" Ash asked.

Lucario nodded and put Ash's arm over his shoulder again. It took a while, but eventually they made it to the warm haven that was the crackling campfire. By this time Infernape had returned with the wood after reducing the tree to splinters and had added it to the fire. He even used a Flamethrower attack to get a bigger fire going. Pikachu had gathered up enough Oran Berries from the tree to give to the Houndoom, who were now lying in front of the fire, trying to absorb as much heat as possible. Ash was also eased down in front of the fire by Lucario, who made sure to put Ash close enough to feel the heat, but obviously not close enough to burn him A nearby log was a good bet to put Ash down on. He then sat down next to Ash, in front of the fire. A few other Pokémon came over and joined them, trying to add their own body heat to the warmth that Ash was very thankful to have. Ash gave Lucario a look of gratitude.

"Thanks," he said while weakly raising an arm and stroking his head, which gave the Aura Pokémon immense satisfaction.

At this time, Pikachu had returned with the berries and placed a few in front of each Houndoom. Each one looked curiously at the small pile of berries in front of them. They were doubtful, for that was obvious. Wild Pokémon didn't normally trust humans in general. So they were debating on what to do. Eat the Oran Berries and go against their better judgement, or not eat them and stay exhausted and hungry?

"I know these things aren't a replacement for your food stash, but they'll help. So, go ahead," Ash said.

With that final push, the Houndoom realized that they just needed to accept their current humility and eat the berries. As they began to eat the healing fruit, Ash reached over to his bag and opened it. He looked inside and found what he was looking for. He pulled out a couple of cans of Pokémon food and seven collapsible bowls that he used to feed his Pokémon. He set them up in formation and then began to fill each one. The Houndoom watched curiously at Ash's actions. What they were really surprised about was what Ash did after.

Upon filling up each bowl, Ash placed it in front of one of the Houndoom, repeating this process until all seven of them had a bowl of Pokémon food in front of them. They all looked at the food in front of them, unsure of what to do.

"Go on, eat up. You guys must be pretty hungry after being dragged through all that," Ash said, referring to the incident that had happened.

The Houndoom didn't really know what to do from here. This human was very strange to them to say the least. Most humans they'd encounter would fear them or attempt to capture one of them at the least. This human was different; however, he did none of these things. Even after they made their malicious intents clear, this human wasn't repelling them or pushing them away. Instead, he was doing this for them, giving them something to eat and allowing them to feel warm after their near-death experience, whom this human, despite all they tried to do to him and his Pokémon, attempted to save them from.

But the strangest thing about this human was the...feeling he gave off. He could stare into their eyes and return no malice that they'd given him, although they wouldn't blame him for doing so. Instead, he gave a look that made them feel warm and safe, even made them feel happy. They were close to near strangers to each other, but this human made them feel something else. Like somehow...they were friends.

One of the Houndoom decided to do something that he'd never done before and trust the human. He got to his feet, a little easier now since all of them had an Oran Berry to restore their energy and heal their wounds. With hesitant, but still somewhat confident actions, he lowered his head down and ate a single pellet of the Pokémon food out of his bowl. The rest of the pack watched inquisitively as their comrade tried out what this human had given to them. A few seconds passed before the Houndoom's eyes slowly opened wide. To everyone's surprise, Houndoom suddenly began to wolf down the contents of the bowl. Ash was the first one to recover and began to chuckle.

"Looks like your buddy likes it," he said as he watched the dark canine dig in.

The shocked pack looked to him, and then back to the food in front of them. They thought it wouldn't hurt to try a little bit and see how it tasted...

A few seconds later, all the Houndoom were happily devouring the bowls of food in front of them, full of joy that they could finally get something in their stomachs. Ever since they lost their food stash to that Lucario, tasty stuff was hard to come by. As if reading their thoughts, Ash spoke up.

"So, I know that you might not want to hear any of this, but there's no way that Lucario did anything to you guys. I mean, there are a few things that don't make sense to me."

Upon hearing his name, Lucario looked to Ash, after all, if there were any kinds of proof that he was innocent, it would surely peak Lucario's interest. The Houndoom stopped eating their food, for they were curious too, for the same reasons as Lucario.

"I mean, for starters, Lucario had no reason to go and ruin your food stash, unless he was just trying to be mean and have some fun by ruining your supply. I know that Lucario's not that kind of Pokémon. He also wouldn't believe that he was strong enough to take you all on if this backfired on him. And I don't think that I need to explain why Lucario wouldn't want to be brought to the brink of death, do I?" Ash explained.

At the mention of the last thing, the Houndoom did have a look of regret in their eyes. Their anger and hatred against Lucario was no excuse to go as far as to willingly cause bloodshed. They almost had blood on their paws that would never come off, if Ash and Pikachu didn't step in.

"I know it's hard when something bad happens to you and you just wanna blame the first one that you think did it. Still, that does not mean that what you did was right. So please, believe us when we say that Lucario didn't do anything, it was something else," Ash concluded.

The Houndoom looked at Ash for a long-time prompting Ash to stare back at them. Besides the crackling of the fire, no sound came from either party. For two full minutes they did nothing but gaze at the other.

Finally, the Houndoom began to converse with each other. They whispered among themselves, debating on whether or not this human was right. He did bring up some good points, ones that outweighed their own, and to be totally honest, they didn't really have any proof that Lucario was the one who committed the crime, besides a single eyewitness who could've been lying. Eventually, a verdict had been reached. They looked back at Ash, their faces somber and gloomy. Ash knew what decision they'd made. They then looked to Lucario.

"_Doom Houd Houndoom Doom Hound Hound Houndoom Doom _(We're truly sorry Lucario, we let anger blind us, and what we did to you is unforgivable,)" the leader said with shame, clearly showing on his face.

The rest of the pack felt the same way. They expected Lucario's reaction to be anything but what happened next.

"_Heh, thanks for that, and just to let you know, I forgive you guys,_" Lucario said, shocking the Houndoom with the fact that they had gained forgiveness so easily.

"_H-Houndoom Doom Houndoom Oom Doom Houd Houndoom? _(A-Are you sure you want to forgive us?)" the leader said with a surprised voice.

Lucario nodded and gave the pack a warm smile.

"_Yeah, in fact, I-I need to apologize too. I mean-_" Lucario was suddenly cut off when he saw Ash raise a hand up.

"No Lucario, everything that happened tonight was all my fault. I was so confident after beating Team Rocket, I didn't notice that you guys were over the lake. I ordered Bulbasaur to cut you down. It's...my fault that you guys almost died. I'm so, so sorry Houndoom!" Ash admitted.

Both Lucario and the Houndoom were shocked that Ash was taking the blame for tonight's events. Lucario came over and put a paw on his shoulder.

"_Ash, don't think that way. Don't you remember that you tried to save them as well? Keep it in mind that you took action to try and right that wrong,_" Lucario said. Ash sighed, and then smiled.

"_Thanks Lucario, I needed that,_" Ash replied. The Houndoom decided to speak up again, this time with a smile on his snout.

"_Houd Doom Doom Houndoom Doomdoom Houndoom _(Well, I guess we owe you guys one,)" he said.

Ash chuckled and then remembered something.

"Oh! Houndoom," Ash said spontaneously, gaining the pack's attention. "I think I know what to do about your food stash problem," he started, definitely attracting the full interest of the dark canines now.

"You see, in and around this area, there's a bunch of berries around, there's even an Oran Berry tree right there," Ash said gesturing to the tree. "Berries take a month at most to grow back after being picked. So, when we leave tomorrow, you guys can hang out here and make a stash right here until the berries near your place regrow. How's that sound?" Ash suggested.

The Houndoom were incredibly shocked, but also incredibly grateful that Ash had made such an offer.

"_D-Doom Houd Houd Doom Houndoom Houndoom Hound Doom Oom!_ (T-Thank you, no human has ever been this nice to us before!) the Houndoom barked with delight. One of the Houndoom even came up and began to lick Ash's face.

"H-Hey, that-that tickles!" Ash giggled out as he stroked the jovial Pokémon.

After getting Houndoom off him, he turned to Lucario and Pikachu.

"I think that it's time to get some sleep, it's well past midnight," he said.

At this being mentioned, both Pikachu and Lucario let out a yawn, showing that they were very tired and sleep would be much appreciated. Ash turned back to the Houndoom.

"You guys are free to sleep here tonight as well," he said to the dual fire and dark types.

The packs eyes widened before they grinned and nodded their heads in confirmation.

Ash's Pokémon, who were scattered all around the clearing, began to gather around Ash and snuggled around him to keep him warm. Charizard curled around Ash, allowing him to use his body as a heat source and something to lay down on. Ash smiled at his loyal Flame Pokémon before he closed his eyes and began to get some shut-eye before the sun rose. Pikachu made himself comfortable in Ash's arms before closing his eyes and letting his ears droop. The Houndoom got comfortable too, nestling together to preserve warmth.

Soon, the only one who was still awake right now was Lucario, who was a little lost at what to do. It would be a little awkward, sleeping together with that many Pokémon and one human. Would they be alright with him?

Before he could debate further, he noticed Ash giving him a soft smile and beckoning him into the group. Lucario smiled back and made his way over to the group. He stepped over Charizard's tail and then sat down next to Ash, leaning up against Charizard as well. Ash put his arm around Lucario's shoulder and pulled him close.

"Goodnight Lucario," Ash whispered to the Aura Pokémon.

Lucario let out a light chuckle and put his arm around Ash's shoulder as well.

"_Goodnight Ash,_" Lucario whispered back.

With that last sentence spoken and smiles on their faces, the clearing fell silent and all the inhabitants soon let sleep embrace them in its comfort.

* * *

"Argh, no way! Not again!" Dominic cried in frustration as he tripped over another rock and hit the ground. He groaned for a little bit while he waited for the pain to subside.

"It'll be worth it Dominic...it'll be all worth it," he reassured himself.

After being roused from his sleep by what sounded by a distant explosion, Dominic believed he had an epiphany. When he fully erased the guilt that he had, he decided to try and find this trainer, that he had assumed, was in this forest. He wanted to see this power up close and personal, and as far as he was concerned, sleep could come later. Pushing himself up off the ground, he got to his feet and continued walking.

"Just you wait, whoever you are..."

"I will find you!"


	5. Chapter 5

_"Charity brings to life those who are spiritually dead."_– Thomas Aquinas

.

The sun rose steadily over the horizon, ending the darkness of night and bathing everything in its natural light. The sun's rays reached down and warmed the earth. A few of the wild Pokémon woke up first. A couple of Starly, some Burmy and a few Stantler, were awoken by the arrival of morning. Chirps and noises of other kinds began to echo around the forest, acting like an alarm clock for a huge group of sleeping Pokémon and one human. The combination of the sun's light and the sounds of the morning, roused the human awake. His eyelids scrunched up a bit to block out some of the sun's light. As he exited his slumber, he let out a huge yawn which he then covered with his hand.

"_Wow, I can't believe that morning came around that fast? Man, where does the time go?_" he thought, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

He looked around once he was a bit more awake. He could see that all his Pokémon were curled up around him. He was still leaned up against one of his most loyal Pokémon, Charizard, who was more than happy to share his warmth with Ash, considering the night he had. Ash smiled and looked back down. In his arms, resting comfortably, was his best friend, Pikachu. His ears were drooped down and he was continuing to snooze away adorably. Ash didn't have the heart to wake Pikachu up, so he looked away and at the Pokémon leaning up against his side. Lucario had a small smile on his face. His breathing was steady and calm. He was in a state where he felt peaceful, safe and comforted. Ash didn't have the heart to wake up Lucario either.

He thought back to the day before and how far the Aura Pokémon had come since then. Lucario had become a good friend to all his Pokémon, trained well, defeated a Pokémon out to kill him and was even the key to thwarting Team Rocket's nefarious plans. Ash felt fierce pride in Lucario, despite not knowing him for very long. It was almost like Lucario had been his Pokémon for a very long time. However, that was not the case as Lucario did have an actual trainer, which they were going to start searching for today.

Ash's head dropped in thought. "Lucario's trainer..." Up until this point, Ash hadn't given it much thought. He believed that this was just a case of separated trainer and Pokémon, a case which he had resolved dozens upon dozens of times. But now he wasn't so sure. There were some things that just didn't make sense to him. Why would Lucario's trainer just leave him out in the middle of the Yuju Forest? If you were old enough to train Pokémon, you were old enough to know that you keep them with you at all times on your journey, especially in a place as big as the Yuju Forest.

There was also the fact that Lucario perceived himself as weak and thus, was weak until he met Ash. There had been several events along Ash's journey that had a case of Pokémon being abandoned by their trainers for not being strong enough. A few examples would be Charizard, once a lonely Charmander, left behind on a rock by his trainer. Then there was Squirtle, who ran in a pack of other Squirtles known as the Squirtle Squad, all of whom, were abandoned by their trainers. And finally, there was Infernape, who was a little Chimchar who had incredible potential. He was captured by Paul, who eventually left the Sinnoh fire starter outside the Hearthome Tag Battle Arena. All of them were considered weak by their lousy trainer and were forced to hit the road, thankfully, Ash came into their world. He gave them a new trainer, a new friend and a new life as one of his Pokémon.

With Lucario being left in the Yuju Forest while the trainer went off being suspicious, and the fact that Ash had seen many abandonments that trainers had done to their Pokémon, it could be too easy to say that Lucario's trainer probably abandoned him in a similar way that Charizard's former trainer, Damien did, saying that he would return soon.

"_Hmm…,_" Ash hummed. "_No...it can't just be that, there's something else, I know there is!_"

He tried to remember everything and anything he had been told, by both Lucario the Houndoom.

"_Ok, let's see, Lucario was left in an area and was attacked by the Houndoom who said that he had ruined their food stash,_" Ash recounted in his head. "_Then, when I asked why they were so sure that the culprit was Lucario, they said that someone witnessed him doing it. A stranger to the pack, he accused Lucario of doing it. Why in the world would he do tha-_"

Ash suddenly cut off his thoughts as one conclusion came to mind. An answer that, to his dismay, made too much sense. Any puzzle piece was fit into its proper place.

"N-N-No...it...it can't be...," Ash stammered aloud. "Who could possibly go through with that, much less live with themselves afterwards?" He thought.

A few people came to mind, people that belonged behind bars, not wandering around the Yuju Forest, exposing their innocent Pokémon to their sadistic plan. Ash clenched his hands tightly into fists.

"How could anyone be so...so...evil?" Ash wondered to himself.

Suddenly he heard a yawn right next to him.

"_M-Morning already?_" the voice said in a drowsy tone.

Ash looked and smiled as he saw the Aura Pokémon wake up from his deep sleep. Lucario yawned again and then looked to who he was leaning on.

"_Mmm, morning Ash...,_" Lucario mumbled, waking up. Ash grinned and stroked Lucario's head.

"Good morning, buddy," Ash replied.

Ash taking his arm away from Pikachu to pet Lucario, led to the electric type waking up. He opened one eye, then the other.

"_Chaaa!"_ Pikachu yawned as he stretched in Ash's lap. Ash looked back at Pikachu.

"Heh, morning Pikachu, have a nice sleep?" Ash asked his starter. Pikachu rubbed his eyes.

"_Pika_ (Yeah,)" He replied, still sleepy.

From then on, the whole clearing came to life. A lot of Ash's Pokémon began to rise from their slumber. They yawned, and after waking themselves up, spread out around the clearing. A choice few decided to stay asleep though like Charizard, who still served as someone to rest on, Noctowl, who was a nocturnal Pokémon and disliked being awake in the daytime unless it was something important, Then there was Snorlax because...well, he's Snorlax, and then there was Bayleef who was content to sit in the sun's rays.

Ash smiled. "Well, there's no point in me staying asleep now is there?" he asked himself.

He stretched his arms upward and yawned. He picked up the still sleepy Pikachu in his arms and stood up off the ground. Lucario, after a few minutes of stretching, got up off the ground too. A sudden, simultaneous growl was heard from Lucario and Ash's stomachs. The two looked to each other for a few moments before chuckling.

"We should probably get something to eat," Ash said. Lucario smiled and nodded back.

After a few minutes had passed, Ash had prepared the food for every single one of the Pokémon present. He put down a few bowls in front of the sleeping Pokémon, sure that they'd wake up eventually. He sat down and smiled as he watched his Pokémon chow down on their breakfast as he ate his own filling of self-made oatmeal. Lucario was all too happy to start munching on the food and talk among the other Pokémon. The Houndoom also feasted upon the food, glad that they were able to satiate their hunger with such wonderful tasting food.

After an hour of conversing and eating. Ash got up and wiped his hands on his jeans. He looked up at the cloudless sky and took a deep breath of the fresh morning air. He smiled and then began to gather up the bowls that the Pokémon had used to eat their breakfast. After doing that, he placed all the collapsed bowls into his bag and took many pokeballs out.

Ash sighed. He always liked it when his Pokémon were out and about. They could play around and laugh and talk with Ash, but now with the big journey that they were embarking on, he could rarely have all of them out at a time. Ash had bonds he shared with every single one of his Pokémon. Ones that made him not mind that much when Bayleef affectionately Body Slammed him or when Gible decided to sink his teeth into his head. If he could get his way, he'd always have all his Pokémon out, obviously, seeing as they were his only company on his training trip. But that would be too hard to both travel and retain his anonymity. Those two things were really important if he wanted his goal to become a reality.

"Hey everyone, come over here," he called to his Pokémon.

Said Pokémon happily obliged and positioned themselves in front of their trainer. But looking at the resigned look on his face pretty much gave away what he was about to say.

"Hey guys," he greeted them with a smile. They all gave a greeting back, though a slightly unenthusiastic one. Ash took a deep breath. "So guys, as you all know, we're leaving now, to find Lucario's trainer, and it's not gonna be pleasant if you're all out. So, it's time to go back into your pokeballs."

All Pokémon let out a sighs and groans of disapproval as Ash said that sentence. Ash wasn't the only one who liked having his Pokémon around him, his Pokémon liked being around Ash. His cheerful, caring nature allowed all of them to feel happy and carefree in his presence.

Ash continued. "And judging by how close we are to Mt. Corenet, we can't exactly have another moment like these for the next month and a half," Ash said, eliciting another chorus of disapproving sounds."

Ash let out a bitter chuckle. "But I want you all to know, that when we get to Mt. Corenet, not only will you all be able to stay out of your pokeballs, but you can stay out for as long as you want, how does that sound?" Ash said.

This got his Pokémon to perk up a bit at that kind of offer. They smiled in gratitude, glad that their trainer was as flexible as that. A month and a half to wait was a small price to pay if they could be in the company of their trainer. Ash smiled at his Pokémon and held his arms out. Sure this was a gesture that would eventually end in pain, but he didn't care as he always loved to show his care and friendship to his Pokémon. Ash's Pokémon smiled back, some smiles cheeky, some meek, and some warm as they all ran up to Ash and tackled him to the ground affectionately. Ash broke out into giggles as his Pokémon crowded around him and gave nuzzles, licks, hugs and, in Gible's case, nibbles.

Lucario watched on, smiling as he saw the display of absolute affection between trainer and Pokémon. Ash and his Pokémon friends were truly on a level of friendship that very few could mimic.

Soon, after Ash was able to get his Pokémon to calm down, he lightly pressed on the areas that he felt pain in and winced a little as he felt a few stings here and there. It was of little consequence though and Ash chuckled. With a regretful smile, he got everyone's pokeballs and started to recall his Pokémon into them. One after another, all the Pokémon vanished into the red and white spheres. This didn't go totally smooth as he got one last Body Slam from the ever-doting Bayleef. Ash chuckled and stroked her short, blunt snout and tapped her pokeball on the side of her head, causing the grass type to return to her pokeball.

Soon the only ones left in the area were Ash, Lucario, Pikachu and the Houndoom. Pikachu took his usual place on Ash's shoulder and prepared to get moving again. Lucario stood by Ash's side, ready to start searching for his master. The Houndoom had all bunched together to see the trio off.

"_...Doom Houd Doom Doom Hound Houndoom? _(...And you're sure there's no hard feelings?") the leader Houndoom asked Lucario.

The Aura Pokémon chuckled in reply. "_No need to worry, we're fine now,_" Lucario replied.

Ash let out a small chuckle as Lucario unknowingly quoted Dawn's catchphrase, he wasn't the only one who picked up on it as Pikachu noticed it too and chuckled.

The Houndoom smiled at Lucario's response and looked to Ash and Pikachu.

"_Houd Houd Doom Houd Doom Houndoom Hound Doom Doom Houndoom Doom Houd Houd Houd Houndoom _(And thank you both for all you've done. If you ever need anything, we'd be happy to help.") the leader said. Ash and Pikachu smiled at Houndoom's offer and gave a thumbs-up.

"Sure, we'll take you up on that offer," Ash replied, smiling.

After Ash had stored everything in his bag, he put the straps on his shoulders and prepared to leave. Suddenly, he thought of something and looked to Pikachu and Lucario.

"You two go on ahead, I'll be along in a few seconds," he said.

Both Lucario and Pikachu looked at him with a face of confusion, but when Ash looked back with a warm smile, they nodded and made their way to the exit of the clearing. Once the two were out of earshot, Ash looked back at the pack of Houndoom, his face serious now. The pack was confused at Ash's actions, but they guessed that he was going to fill them in on what was happening. Ash double checked to make sure that Lucario and Pikachu couldn't hear, then looked back to the pack.

"Actually, I do need something...," Ash began.

A few minutes later, a jogging Ash caught up to Lucario and Pikachu, who was riding on the former's shoulder. Upon seeing Ash, Pikachu let out a happy "_Pikapi!_" and switched from Lucario's shoulder to Ash's. Ash smiled as Pikachu hopped onto his shoulder and gave his buddy a few rubs under his chin. Lucario looked to the trainer next to him.

"_So, what'd you stay behind for?_" the Aura Pokémon asked.

Ash gulped at this question and quickly tried to make an excuse.

"U-Uh I-I was just checking to see if I had left anything there," Ash said quickly, hoping that they'd buy the excuse. Fortunately for him, they did as it seemed to be enough for the two Pokémon.

"So...," Ash started, trying to change the subject. "...Does anyone have an idea on where we should start looking?"

Both Pikachu and Lucario shook their heads.

"Hmm, then I guess we'll need to search the old-fashioned way...," he muttered.

* * *

Meanwhile, Dominic was resting on a tree stump, his tired legs thanking him for the break. He brought his hand up to his mouth and let out a yawn. He hadn't got any sleep since very early in the morning and he was trying to truly wake up.

He'd been trekking through the Yuju Forest for a good few hours now, only stopping once to have some breakfast. What pushed him to keep going was the fact that somewhere in the Yuju Forest, there was a person, one whom had interested him, due to the fact that he was behind the huge lightning bolt he'd seen yesterday.

"_Out of all the places to find someone and it's one of the biggest forests of the entire region. I guess it's just a case of bad luck…,"_ he thought.

He looked up at the sky and watched the clouds drift silently across the morning sky. He then got to his feet and hoisted his bag to his shoulders.

"_Well, no point in just sitting here anymore, guess I'll move on...,_" he thought, making his way from the area.

Unbeknownst to him, a single flying type Pokémon had noticed him and widened his eyes. With great speed, he turned and flew in the direction from which he came.

* * *

"A-Achoo!" Ash sneezed.

Lucario and Pikachu looked at him and chuckled.

"_Someone must be talking about you,_" Lucario said.

Ash looked at the Aura Pokémon and chuckled back.

"Nah, that's just superstition," Ash replied with a dismissive wave of his hand.

It had been a few hours since they had started to search for Lucario's trainer, but finding just one person wasn't that easy in a place as large as the Yuju Forest.

Ash had sent out all his flying types to help speed up the search and he hadn't heard back from one of them. He'd instructed them to return in half an hour, whether or not they found something, but he still couldn't predict whether they'd come back with something. Right now they were having a break in an area where Ash sent out his aerial seekers, so they could find them again.

Ash was sharing the tales of his travels as a Pokémon trainer to pass the time. Lucario found it hard to believe that Ash and Pikachu didn't really like each other when they first met and it was thanks to a large flock of Spearow and a Thundershock powered by a natural lightning strike, that they were able to sort out their differences. He also told Lucario about the countless amount of times that he and his friends thwarted the plights of Team Rocket and other teams such as Magma, Aqua and Galactic. Lucario was almost left wordless when Ash told him that he didn't only meet the Creation Trio, consisting of Dialga, Keeper of Time, Palkia, Keeper of Space and Giratina, Keeper of Antimatter, but he also met the Lake Trio, Uxie, Mespirit and Azelf, the beings of Knowledge, Emotion and Willpower respectively. And not only did he meet them, but he assisted them in preventing the destruction of the world.

Ash had far more stories to tell, but the trio on the ground suddenly heard a series of shrill cries and chirps from above them. They looked up and smiled as they saw that it was Ash's Pokémon, as they lowered themselves to the ground, Ash ran up to them.

"So, did you guys find him?" Ash asked his flying types. All but one of them shook their heads. The only one who had seen something was Staraptor. Ash looked at his trusty bird companion.

"You found him?" Ash asked the flying type.

Staraptor nodded and took to the sky again, with one arm flapping, and another one pointing West. Ash nodded and looked to the remaining flying types.

"Well done everyone, now, return," he said as he held up their pokeballs and recalled them. He then looked to Staraptor, who began to lead the way. The trio of Ash, Lucario and Pikachu nodded to each other and quickly dashed after him.

Staraptor needed to be careful not to fly too high or fast, or they may not be able to see him, but he couldn't fly too low and slow, otherwise, the trainer would've moved by the time he got there, and he wouldn't be able to recognize areas that were around where he found the trainer, since they were close up. But fortunately, he was able to find a comfortable altitude that balanced both factors and continued to lead the three.

A few hours had gone by since they started to follow Staraptor, and they were getting a little worried that maybe the trainer had moved somewhere else. All that constant flapping to stay aloft for a few hours wasn't good for Staraptor's wings. It was also evident on Staraptor's face that he needed a break.

Ash cupped his hands around his mouth. "Hey, Staraptor, come down and take a break!" he called up to him.

Staraptor looked below him and nodded. He then went into a quick descent, swooping down to the ground and perched on a nearby tree branch. As Ash let him have a rest, he had an idea to majorly speed the search up.

"_Well, if we can't follow Staraptor quickly enough on the ground, then we'll have to follow him through the air…,_" he thought.

After treating Staraptor's wing joints with some rejuvenating cream and some strokes, Staraptor was fit to fly again. He stretched his wings and was about to take off.

"Wait! Wait!" Ash called to him.

Staraptor quickly halted his beginning to ascend and looked at Ash curiously. Ash smiled as he brought out another pokeball.

"We gotta quicken the pace if we're gonna find this guy. Come on out, Pidgeot!" he cried, releasing his regal flying type.

Pidgeot let out a shrill cry upon release and looked to Ash to see what it was he was wanted from her. Ash smiled and explained.

"Ok, here's the thing Pidgeot, Staraptor needs to lead us to Lucario's master, but we're not quick enough to follow him before the trainer moves again. So, we need your help," Ash said.

Pidgeot got what Ash was saying and lowered his head to the ground, giving the signal for Ash to hop on. Ash carefully set himself down on her back. Ash secured Pikachu with one of his arms and with the other, signaled for Lucario to hop on too. Lucario, having never ridden a Pokémon before was obviously a little confused on how to mount Pidgeot. However, after a series of attempts, many of which resulted in Lucario face down in the dirt, Ash laying face down in the dirt or in a few instances. both at the same time, Lucario was finally able to secure himself upon the large bird.

"You've ever flown before?" Ash asked Lucario. The Aura Pokémon chuckled at the question.

"_Nope, I try to keep myself on the ground as much as I can,_" he replied. Ash grinned at Lucario's answer and used his free hand to hold on to Lucario's paw.

"Then hold on tight, 'cause we don't like to go slow," Ash replied.

Lucario gulped nervously at Ash's response. Upon seeing that, Ash smiled and pat Lucario's head.

"But I'm sure we can hold back, just this once," he said. Gripping tightly onto Lucario's paw. He looked to his flying types. "Ready guys?"

"3..."

"2..."

"1..."

"Let's go!"

* * *

Dominic absent-mindedly snapped a twig that he picked from a tree in half. He wasn't really much more than a little progress through the Yuju Forest and honestly, he was quite bored. He just wanted something to happen, anything...

Dominic looked up to the sky, hoping to see another pillar of lightning or something else that would give away the trainer's position, but there was nothing but a sky of blue, clouds of wide and the tree line trailing off into the distance. He chuckled, thinking it was stupid that he was just relying on another tower of electricity to show up on cue. He groaned and shoved his hands into his pockets

"_I'll take a break if I find another clearing. Backtracking through this place is killing me!_" Dominic thought.

He continued his walking and grabbed another twig off a tree, bending it and snapping it in half. He then snapped those halves in two as well. He continued until he could no longer bend the wood at which he then threw the pieces away. He then grabbed another twig and resumed the snapping. The splintering of the wood continued as Dominic walked onward.

* * *

Lucario looked in awe at the trees below them. The forest had seemed giant before when they were on the ground, but now, it seemed much less formidable. Still, the forest was incredible as, they were still high up, the myriad of trees stretched on for what seemed like forever. They could easily go higher and see the edge of the forest if they wanted to, but that was unnecessary as they weren't trying to exit the forest, but find someone in it.

Right now, Ash, Pikachu and Lucario were atop of Pidgeot's back and soaring over the Yuju Forest at a great speed. Lucario was slightly overwhelmed at the speed at first, but he got used to it and soon found himself admiring the bird's-eye-view he was getting. Staraptor, who was leading Pidgeot to the areas that he remembered seeing Lucario's master in, continued his search. The trainer may move around, but now that they didn't have the disadvantage of needing to lead Ash Lucario and Pikachu, they could move a lot faster. All they needed to do was find the trainer. However, that was easier said than done as the trainer was always on the move in a direction that they didn't know.

A few minutes passed and they had no luck finding Lucario's master and said Pokémon was beginning to worry. Ash noticed Lucario's uneasiness and knew what he was thinking.

"Don't worry, Lucario, we'll find your master soon, we promise," Ash said, throwing a soft smile Lucario's way. Upon hearing those words, Lucario looked from the ground and to Ash. "Trust me," Ash replied to Lucario's unspoken words.

Suddenly, a shrill caw came from Staraptor, which caught everyone's attention. Ash opened his eyes wide in surprise.

"What is it Staraptor?" he called to the leader of their aerial journey.

Staraptor looked back and everyone saw that a grin was clear on his beak.

"_Star Starap Rap Raptor Staraptor _(I think I found him,)" he said, aiming one of his wings down at a clearing below.

Everyone looked down to where Staraptor was pointing. It was indeed as he said. Down at the ground below was a figure sitting upon a tree stump.

Ash turned to Lucario.

"Hey, can you sense that person's aura from up here?" He asked. Upon hearing the question, Lucario looked to Ash and nodded.

"_I should_," he replied.

He then closed his eyes and in turn, transformed his vision to be aura-oriented. As Lucario's world lit up in a bright teal, he focused on the person below. A few moments passed as Lucario tried to feel for anything familiar within the person and everyone watched in suspense.

Suddenly, a smile came to Lucario's face.

"_It... It's him, ha ha! It's him, it's my Master!_" Lucario cried with a face of pure joy.

Ash and the others had smiles come to their own faces. Lucario would have danced in joy, if it wasn't for the fact that he was about 200 feet above ground. Ash chuckled at Lucario's euphoric outbursts.

"Okay, Staraptor, Pidgeot, land there!" Ash said, pointing at an area about 150 meters away from where Lucario's master was. Lucario was obviously a little confused.

"_Huh, Ash, why are we landing there? My Master's down there,_" Lucario said, pointing at the person below.

Upon the question, Ash sighed. "I know Lucario, I'll tell you when we land, 'kay?" Ash said, hoping that it would convince him.

"_But-_" Lucario started, but then saw a look in Ash's eyes, something there that told the Aura Pokémon to not question Ash, lest he miss something important he needed to say. "_...O... Okay...,_" he replied with a considerably toned-down voice.

As they got closer to the ground, Ash closed his eyes, thinking about how he was going to say what he wanted to say. He was however coming up blank, and there wasn't much more time to piece together a few words before Lucario would start asking questions. Ash sighed as the birds landed on the ground gracefully, despite one having three passengers. Lucario was quick to hop off Pidgeot, as was Pikachu, but Ash stayed on for a few moments longer, his head lowered. This obviously confused both Pikachu and Lucario.

"_Hey Ash, are you alright?_" Lucario asked.

Ash looked up at the two Pokémon. "Huh? O-Oh yeah, I'm fine," he answered, trying to perk his voice up a bit and putting on a smile. He hopped off Pidgeot and looked to her and Staraptor.

"You did great guys. Thank you," He said as he took out their pokeballs. "Now, return and have a rest."

A red beam shot out of the center of each pokeball and hit both birds. A second later, both became enveloped in a red glow, their physical bodies turning into light and returning to the pokeball. With the two safely tucked away in their pokeballs, Ash stashed them into his bag and looked to the other two Pokémon.

"L-Let's get moving...," he said to both of them as he started to walk.

Pikachu hopped onto Ash's shoulder with a small frown. Something was up with his best friend. He would've asked, but if Ash wanted anyone to know what it was, he would've told them already, so Pikachu chose to remain silent.

"_So Ash, why are we over here?_" Lucario asked.

Upon hearing the question, Ash gulped, he still hadn't thought of anything and he didn't have any time left. He had to say something, anything.

"W-Well...," Ash started, cursing his inability to be a good verbal improviser. "Well, I-I just wanna have one last walk together before you go back to your Master, hope that doesn't make me selfish...," he said, throwing out the first thought that came to his head. It was actually a bit true. Since Lucario was going back, Ash did in fact want to spend a little more time with the Aura Pokémon.

"_Oh no... of course it doesn't, I understand,_" Lucario said with a smile.

After all, after everything Ash had done for him, he wanted time to exchange proper goodbyes.

"L-Lucario, I want you to know just how proud I am of you. You've grown so much in such a short time," Ash said to him.

"_Heh, well, there's no way I would've been able to do it without you,_" Lucario chuckled. "_Take some credit for yourself. will ya?_"

Both him and Ash pushed some branches out of the way and resumed their pace.

"You know now Lucario...," Ash said out of nowhere, gaining the dual Fighting-Steel types curiosity.

"_Huh?_" Lucario asked, tilting his head a little.

"...How strong you are, how strong you were, and how strong you will be, and how much stronger you can get. You were unconfident with yourself, scared of fighting, truly believed yourself to be weak, but that's changed now," Ash explained.

"So, Lucario, if there's ever a time when you doubt yourself or believe you're not strong enough, know that kind of strength will always be within you. In here...," Ash said, resting his index finger on Lucario's forehead. "...And here..."

Ash finished as he rested the same hand on Lucario's heart, smiling softly at him.

Lucario stayed silent for a few seconds, processing what Ash had just told him. It wasn't until Ash noticed the shimmering tears forming in Lucario's eyes that he realized that he heard him.

"_Th-Thank you Ash, y-you're the best thing that's ever happened in my life,_" Lucario said, with tears running down his cheeks.

Ash chuckled and rubbed Lucario's head gently. "Well, that's what friends are for," he replied softly.

Lucario brought a paw up to his eyes and wiped away his tears. "_So-Sorry, I've been kind of a crybaby lately, huh?_" Lucario asked.

Upon hearing that, Ash chuckled. "There's nothing to be ashamed about crying, I could tell last night that you had been bottling up your emotions for a while now, so feel free to let them out. Let all of them out," he said.

Lucario smiled and let a couple more tears fall as they walked, looking at the person he was indebted to. After about ten minutes of walking, all that separated them and the clearing that held Lucario's master was a few bushes and trees. Lucario had calmed down by then and he looked through the bushes to confirm that it was indeed his trainer. Ash looked at the trainer too, taking care to stay out of sight. As Ash looked up on Lucario's face, there was no question of the joy he was feeling.

"Well, I guess that it's time to say goodbye...," Ash said as he looked at Lucario. Said Pokémon's face shifted from joy to solemnness.

"_Yeah, I guess...I guess this is it...,_" he whispered, looking down.

"_Ash...there are...no words...to describe how grateful I am to you, for what you've done. I-I have so much I wanna say...,_" Lucario whispered, his voice just barely audible. "_I know it's only been a day or so, since we met, but I want you to know that the time we spent together..._"

A memory flashed in Lucario's mind:

Him waking up to see Ash and Pikachu's smiling faces...

"_...Has been..._"

Him crying by the lake, and Ash comforting him...

"_...So very..._"

Ash embracing him after being overcome by his emotions...

"_...precious to me..._"

Lucario's words were barely able to get out as he got all choked up, tears coming to his eyes again. All that Ash and his Pokémon had done for him was the kindest, most generous thing anyone had done for him. They weren't getting rewarded, they didn't ask for anything in return except Lucario's trust and friendship, something that the Aura Pokémon was all too happy to grant. Now, his master was right there...they had helped him find his trainer of which he thought so highly of, just like Ash promised.

"They've been so very precious to me too Lucario. I promise you that I'll never forget you...," Ash said.

"_Pika Pika Pikachu _(Neither will I,)" Pikachu said, shaking his head with a comforting smile on his face.

"And maybe...one day, we'll see each other again...," Ash said.

Lucario looked up, his eyes pooling with tears. "_Y-Yeah, and you'll will have beaten Paul by the time we do, I know it!_" Lucario told Ash.

Ash smiled at Lucario's words, they truly meant the world to him. With the responsibility he had trusted himself with, he'd need all the support he could get.

"Heh, yeah I will, thanks for that Lucario," Ash said with a grin.

After that, a stretch of silence came between them. Then without warning, Ash felt Lucario wrapping his arms around his body. Surprised at first, Ash chuckled and did the same.

"_I-I'm gonna m-miss you...,_" Lucario whispered in a small voice. Ash rubbed the back of Lucario's head comfortingly.

"I'm gonna miss you too Lucario," Ash replied with his calming smile.

"_Pika Pika Pikachu. _(So am I,)" Pikachu said, also feeling some tears form in his brown eyes.

Ash and Lucario shared their embrace for a little while longer, until they realized that they had been hugging each other for about five whole minutes. They both slowly separated from each other, but still kept the warm smiles on their faces.

It was time now...

"_Well, so long Ash,_" Lucario said.

Ash nodded and gave Lucario a thumbs up. "Good luck, Lucario," he said.

The Aura Pokémon then turned towards the clearing. After a few seconds of hesitation, Lucario began to run toward the clearing. As Lucario jumped over the shrubs to enter the area, Ash's perception of time slowed down a little, a frown replacing the soft smile he had, confusing the partner on his shoulder.

"_This is it...,_" Ash thought.

"_Master!_" Lucario cried.


	6. Chapter 6

_"Whatever you do, never run back to what broke you."_ – Frank Ocean

.

"_Master!_" Lucario cried as his being resounded in happiness as he bounded into the clearing.

Hearing the all too familiar phrase made Dominic shoot up in shock as the voice of the one he expected to never hear again reached his ears. Slowly turning around in disbelief confirmed the voice as he saw the Aura Pokémon rush towards him with a look of joy clearly present. Dominic couldn't believe this. He did a double take and looked again, only to find that Lucario was still there. Only one word came to his mind as Lucario neared him.

"H-How?"

Lucario stopped in front of Dominic with a smile on his face. "_Master, I'm so glad that I finally found you! I was so worried that you had lost your way and couldn't find me,_" He cried, his enthusiasm clearly present.

A lot of thoughts ran through the two's minds as the reunion was taking place. Relief, joy and excitement for one and shock, frustration and annoyance for the other.

Meanwhile, in the nearby bushes was a watching Ash and Pikachu, hiding as the watched the trainer and Pokémon reunite. Pikachu was smiling as he watched, but Ash wasn't smiling at all as he wasn't focused on the moment itself, but the trainer's reaction to it. Normally, when one was reunited with a lost Pokémon, they would be overcome with happiness, seeing them safe and sound. However, that wasn't the case for this particular trainer as he looked nothing like that, possibly the exact opposite. Still, he needed to confirm his thoughts and deductions that he'd made that morning. This could be the exact kind of trainer Ash thought he was, or he could be a decent one with an unfortunate case of 'Paul-Face' It was only a matter of time until his theory was proven or disproved.

After a few more tense, silent moments in the clearing, Dominic spoke.

"How...?" He asked, not sure if he was seeing things or not.

Taking the question as just over joyfulness that he was safe, Lucario chuckled. "_Well, it's a really long story, Master...,_" he replied.

Dominic was also surprised. Lucario had seemed to grow a great deal of confidence, and it had only been a day. Normally, he was quiet and reserved around him only ever really talking if he was directly addressed. But that wasn't the case now. In fact, it was possibly the first time he had seen Lucario smile in a while. Unbeknownst to Lucario, Dominic clenched his fists in frustration.

"_How is he...?_"

It didn't matter to Dominic if Lucario was happy or not, Lucario was still Lucario. Dominic just cared if his Pokémon could fight, and to his knowledge, Lucario couldn't. The Aura Pokémon was laughing a pleasant, cheerful tenor that conveyed the indescribable warmth that came with genuine happiness. It almost made Dominic regret what he was about to do.

Almost...

The rest of the world seemed to move in slow motion. Ash and Pikachu watched in shock at what Dominic was about to do while Lucario was oblivious as he was still laughing merrily.

Suddenly, a brief sound of flesh meeting bone was heard and the laughing stopped only to be replaced by a yell:

"**How are you still alive!?**"

The voice of Dominic rang out around the clearing and echoed around the Yuju Forest. Lucario was on the ground, holding his left cheek in shock and pain as he looked up to Dominic.

"_M-M-Master...?_" Lucario asked in a voice that was half whimper and half whisper.

The teen was pulling his fist back after he gave the Aura Pokémon a massive punch across his face. A malicious grin spread across Dominic's face.

"Still callin' me that, huh?" he asked as he suddenly gave a kick to the downed Pokémon, making him let out a yelp of pain.

Lucario was confused. Why would his master of all people hurt him? He didn't expect this. But then again, who would? Lucario gasped as he was kicked again as he tried to get away. However, Dominic followed him and kicked him again, over and over. Even through the pain, Lucario could hear the words Dominic spoke loud and clear.

"You're... such... an... idiot... You... think... someone... like... you... would... ever... be... good... enough... to... call... me... your... master...?" Dominic shouted as he kicked Lucario between every word.

The pain Lucario felt was excruciating, both physically and emotionally. The person that Lucario trusted to be on his side was ripping at his soul. His throat seized and his eyes began to leak tears. Ash and Pikachu were stunned in horror as they watched the trainer beat down Lucario. Of course, they wanted to jump in at the first punch, but they couldn't tear their sight away from the brutal scene, almost as if they were mesmerized, wanting to help but being unable to move, almost like they were trapped in a Psychic, restraining their movements. In fact, it would've practically been Psychic if there was a faint, blue outline around Ash and Pikachu. Even their voices seemed locked up.

As Ash watched the poor Pokémon get kicked, he felt an unrivaled rage, as did his electric partner.

"_I-I was right! I should have told Lucario my suspicions, but I was too afraid he'd hate me for talking badly about his trainer!_" Ash thought. He cursed himself in his mind as he tried to get himself out of the state of paralysis.

All the good times that they had with Lucario, even if it was just a day, were precious to him. Not seeing any other option, Ash leaned as much as he could towards Pikachu and placed his forearm on his partner's tail. This sent a small static jolt from Pikachu's tail into Ash's arm, snapping the boy back to reality and making himself able to move his body again. After taking a brief moment to get Pikachu moving, he quickly took off his backpack and dug into it, looking for something.

"_Why Master? Why...?_" Lucario thought as another wave of kicking was unleashed upon his body. He had lost any and all will to fight.

As if reading his mind, Dominic gave an insufferable smirk and stopped kicking so Lucario could hear him better.

"You think I ever wanted you back, 'specially after all I did to get rid of you?" Dominic asked rhetorically.

This statement confused Lucario, sure he left him in the middle of the forest, but that was about it, nothing too extreme that would make someone complain about the amount of work they needed to do.

"Well, I don't know if they found you or not, but I'm thinkin' it was the latter if you're still alive," Dominic said with an arrogant chuckle.

This statement confused Lucario even more. Just what was he talking about?

"_Wh-What are you saying?_" Lucario asked in a pained voice. This resulted in Dominic kicking him again.

"Shut up! Weaklings like you don't get to talk!" he shouted at him, causing the Pokémon to whimper. "But if you really wanna know, Lucario..."

He then kneeled down and grabbed Lucario's ear and pulled on it, lifting the Pokémon's head up. As Lucario winced in pain, he looked Dominic dead in the eye.

"I was the one who destroyed the food stash of the Houndoom, then I blamed you for it. If you haven't been hunted down yet, then I guess that I overestimated them. But, hey, nobody's perfect...," he said, standing up and digging into his bag for something.

"And you, Lucario...," he continued as he pulled out a familiar red and white sphere, dropping it in front of the Pokémon's face.

"...Are nowhere close!"

A smashing sound echoed around the clearing as red and white shards of the once intact pokeball were sent scattering around the foot of the one that had destroyed it. Lucario gazed in horror as the sphere was smashed in front of him. Dominic had just severed Lucario's connection to him, if he hadn't done so already with his harsh words and even harsher attacks.

"So do this world a favor, AND DROP DEAD!"

"YOU PIECE OF TRASH!"

A sudden cry of intense anger echoed around the area and then a grunt of pain by Dominic as he was thrown back by someone barging into him. He landed hard on the ground and went sliding back a few feet. He groaned a little and looked up at his attacker.

Upon looking up, he saw a person donned in a midnight black cloak, standing in front of him with his fists clenched in fury. On his shoulder sat a Pikachu with its cheeks sparking angrily, ready to shock Dominic into ashes. The person stormed up to the trainer and kneeled down. He then grabbed his collar and brought Dominic's face up to his. The person's face was shrouded in the shadow of the cloak, so Dominic couldn't see anything besides the bottom half of his face, even if it was broad daylight. And it unnerved him greatly.

Lucario came out of his stupor as he saw his former trainer get knocked aside by a person wearing a black cloak. The cloak looked very familiar to Lucario. Then it hit him. It was the exact same cloak that had covered him and kept him warm a day ago. Combined with the fact that this person had a Pikachu atop his shoulder and his voice, Lucario figured out exactly who it was under the cloak.

"_Ash...,_" he thought in relief.

"You selfish, heartless, pathetic excuse for a trainer!" Ash growled at him as he instinctively clawed up his free hand and began to focus.

Suddenly, he stopped and clenched his hand up again.

"_No, I can never, ever do that again...otherwise..._"

The temporary lapse in concentration was what Dominic needed and shoved Ash away from him.

"Get away from me!" He shouted as he pushed Ash away. Dominic pondered. Who was this guy, and why was he defending a weakling like Lucario?

Ash grunted slightly as he was pushed away. He stood up fully and glared at Dominic. "You like hurting Pokémon, huh? You like betraying their trust and don't care for their wellbeing, huh?" Ash yelled at him.

Dominic got up with a minor hiss of pain as the effects of Ash's tackle stung his body.

"Wh-Why do you care?" he asked in a voice that was half anger and half curiosity.

"Don't you dare think that trash like you can ask me simple questions like that!" Ash responded sharply as he turned and walked away from him, heading over to where Lucario lay.

He kneeled down and quickly pulled out a couple of Oran Berries he had taken from the clearing where they spent the night. He held them up in front of Lucario's face.

"Here, Lucario, eat these," Ash whispered as all rage seemed to simply disappear from his voice.

"_A-A-Ash...,_" Lucario whispered back as tears of now happiness came to his face.

His friend, his eternal friend had come to save him. Lucario smiled and ate the Oran Berries in Ash's hands. As soon as he swallowed, he felt the pain fading, almost like Dominic never attacked him at all.

"I-I'm so sorry, Lucario, I'm so sorry this happened to you. You don't deserve this," Ash said as he helped the Pokémon to his feet. Lucario chuckled as he was helped up.

"_I'm just glad you're here...,_" he replied.

Dominic gazed at the scene with confusion. "Why waste your time with such a wimp? Why care!?" He asked, obviously not heeding Ash's previous statement aimed at him.

Ash growled and glared at Dominic, even if he couldn't see his eyes, the glare seemed to shoot right through him and send a feeling of dread into his very soul. Lucario also looked at Ash. He had never seen him this angry before, not even when the Houndoom had found them. The kind of anger Ash was exhibiting, along with the cloak he was wearing, made him seem like an entirely different person.

"I care because you don't! I care because Lucario is not a wimp! I care because Lucario is my friend!" Ash exclaimed.

"Friend...?" Dominic said in a small yet contemplating voice.

Suddenly, he smirked, and Ash let out a quiet gasp as Dominic seemed to shift into someone else in his eyes. In place of Dominic was a much more familiar person. It was the very person that caused Ash to embark on his journey: Paul. With a light chuckle, Paul's apparition spoke with Dominic's voice.

"Pathetic...," he replied as he seemed to phase out of existence and was replaced by Dominic.

"You're so pathetic! I can't believe that you would even consider defending somethin' as weak as Lucario," he said.

Ash's glare hardened. "Don't you dare call Lucario a thing!" He retorted, earning a chuckle from Dominic.

"And if I do...?" he asked with a malicious sneer.

Upon his statement, Pikachu jumped off Ash's shoulder and his cheeks sparked dangerously.

"...You'll send an electric rat at me? Oh man please don't zap me, oh mighty rodent!" Dominic said with his voice heavily laden with sarcasm. As he said this, Ash grinned and looked at his partner.

"Show him why he shouldn't mess with us...," Ash said darkly.

Pikachu grinned in reply and even more electricity danced around his cheeks. Dominic stopped grinning as he suddenly felt an electrical spike in the air, a tingling sensation entered his lungs, as if the oxygen he was breathing was imbued with the very essence of lightning. It wasn't harmful or anything, it just felt abnormal. This sensation was also weirdly familiar, where had he felt this before?

The electricity that danced around Pikachu's cheeks moved to surrounding his entire body, making the energy in the air even greater. Dominic watched the Pikachu curiously, his, grin totally gone and now, just a face of intrigue remained. He noticed that his body was spasming every now and then, due to the electricity in the air, but a quick glance over at the cloaked trainer showed him not being affected at all, like he was used to this kind of pressure. How was that possible, neither Pikachu, nor his electricity had even come close to hitting him?

Suddenly, everything snapped into place for Dominic.

"_It's him...!_" He thought in shock. "_The trainer I've been looking for!_"

"Y-You were behind that lightning pillar yesterday, weren't you?" he questioned.

As he asked that question, Ash gave a grin and waved his hand, signaling for Pikachu to stop his electric output. This was the answer that Dominic needed. His face scrunched into a scowl.

"B-Battle me, now!" He demanded, his lust for facing strong opponents getting the better of him."

Ash raised an eyebrow in confusion. "As much as we want to blow you away, I have to ask, why do you wanna fight me?" he asked. Dominic grinned and clenched his fist.

"What? You're afraid to fight me? Then how about I make a proposition?" he said.

"Huh? A proposition?" Ash asked with a curious tone.

Dominic nodded. "Yeah, how about you hand all your Pokémon over, to someone who isn't afraid to fight? You and Lucario look like you're meant for each other, so you take the one I don't need and I take the ones you don't need, interested?" Dominic sporting a confident grin as he chuckled evilly.

Suddenly, his eyes opened wide in shock, a something gripped at his throat, lifting him up off the ground. Dominic was dumbstruck as he saw the cloaked trainer in front of him, lifting him up from the ground by his throat with a single hand.

"I got a proposition for you, how about I rip out your vocal cords since it's clear you don't need them...," Ash replied in a dark voice.

"_I-I didn't even see him move! Who is this guy? No... what is this guy?_" Dominic thought as he struggled against Ash's grip, letting out choked gargles.

Lucario also gaped in disbelief. Ash had never shown this side of himself. He moved so fast, it was like he teleported, but how? Ash was just an ordinary trainer, not a Pokémon that had moves like Teleport or Extremespeed. And Ash had certainly never shown such aggression before. It was like he was a totally different person. Ripping out his former trainer's vocal cords? Would Ash really do that? Pikachu however, knew exactly what had happened, and horrific memories sprang forth to the electric-type's mind.

Being cold...

Being trapped...

Being scared...

Being forced to watch as they fought to decide the world's fate...

Shaking those thoughts from his mind, he quickly sent a cry of "_Pikapi!_" to the cloaked trainer.

Ash heard Pikachu's cry and sighed as he put the choking trainer down on the ground. Dominic fell to the side, nursing his now released throat with one hand. Without a single word, Ash made his way back to the two Pokémon, one looking shocked and the other looking relieved. He hung his head as he stopped in front of the two.

"S-Sorry you had to see that guys...I'll control myself from now on," Ash said with his ordinary, soothing voice back to normal.

Pikachu smiled at Ash and jumped on his shoulder, rubbing the trainer's cheek through the fabric, letting out a happy "_Cha!_"

Lucario although he was still kind of processing what just happened, smiled at Ash. "_Sure, but explanation later, please?_" he replied with a cheeky grin.

Ash chuckled and nodded, although he would need to seriously tone down the tale. Dominic groaned as he got to his feet.

"Wh-What the heck? How'd...How'd you do that?" he asked. Ash growled as he heard the voice.

"That's none of your business!" Ash spat with a venomous tone, making Dominic mentally flinch.

"You think I can't hold my own in battle, that I'm afraid of you? How about we test that little theory?" Ash said as he pulled off his bag and began to dig around it for a Pokémon. That was until he felt a paw on his unoccupied shoulder.

"_Ash...,_" Lucario began. The Aura Pokémon had made a decision.

Ash, thinking he knew what Lucario was going to say, sighed. "I know what you wanna say, and I'm sorry Lucario, but he's no longer your trainer, you don't need to be loyal to him anymore, it's unjustifiable after what he did to you," Ash said. He was certainly surprised when he heard Lucario chuckle.

"_I'm not, I actually wanted to ask something,_" he said, earning a curious look from Ash. Lucario then walked a few steps in front of Ash, his back facing him. "_Ash...please...let me be the one to fight him, I'll show just how wrong he is...,_" he then turned his head to Ash, a confident smile on his face. "_...And how strong we are!_"

Ash looked in shock and was about to reply, about to ask if Lucario was sure about this. But as he opened his mouth, he glimpsed into Lucario's eyes. He saw a burning determination bounding around Lucario's soul, a non-extinguishable will of courage and strength of heart. But then again, he should've expected that. Lucario had changed, and certainly for the better, going from an unconfident battler to a capable and strong one.

"You're kidding right, a weakling like you, against me, I could defeat you in less than ten seconds!" Dominic replied with a cocky tone as he heard Lucario's declaration.

The Pokémon turned back to Dominic and shot him a glare. Dominic didn't know if it was a coincidence or not, but he suddenly felt unnerved. He shook that feeling off and took a pokeball from his backpack.

"In that case, how about you say hi to an old friend Lucario!" he said, tossing the pokeball out on the field. With a loud pop and a flash of white light a Pokémon materialized.

It was a large, vaguely humanoid, red-and-yellow-striped Pokémon with an egg-shaped body. It had pink lips on his dark face. It had yellow, tubular arms with three small claws on each "hand". his legs were small in proportion to his body with pink thighs, red feet, and black shackles around the ankles. It had one large flame on his head, as well as large flames on his shoulders and tail. Additionally, it had four pink spikes on its back.

Ash growled. Despite the obvious lack of care and bonds that Dominic had for his Pokémon, that Magmortar actually looked well trained. Coupled with the fact that he had a type advantage as well meant that this fight was not going to be an easy one. Lucario tensed his muscles and grit his jaws as he saw the familiar Blast Pokémon stand against him. The two didn't exactly have a good relationship with the other. Training with Dominic had given Magmortar a sadistic side and was actually glad to be ordered to punish Lucario when the Aura Pokémon disappointed his former trainer.

Ash looked at Lucario. "You ready buddy?" he asked.

Lucario grinned and looked back at Ash. "_Born ready...,_" he replied.

Ash then looked to Dominic. "You have the first move...," he said.

Dominic grinned. " With pleasure. Magmortar let's end this quick, use Flamethrower on Lucario!" Dominic shouted.

Magmortar responded quickly by raising both of his cannons, already charged with red-hot flames. With a mighty roar, Magmortar shot the attack directly towards Lucario.

"Lucario! Dodge and use Aura Sphere!" Ash commanded as the flames rushed closer.

Lucario grunted as he sidestepped the flames. He then centered his palms and concentrated intensely. The appendages on his head lifted up as a turquoise sphere of energy formed in between his palms. However, as Lucario was creating the sphere, Dominic, a little surprised that Lucario had dodged the attack, took the chance to use the short amount of time he had.

"Magmortar, use Sunny Day to power yourself!"

Magmortar likewise concentrated, except this time concentrating on his left cannon. Almost immediately, a blinding bright yellow orb of energy developed in the cannon and was fired into the sky towards the blistering sun.

"Lucario! Do it now!" Ash commanded.

Lucario opened his eyes and threw the Aura Sphere with all his might towards Magmortar, who just finished launching Sunny Day. Dominic expected the attack to come at some point, so he was prepared.

"Magmortar, smash that attack with Brick Break!" Dominic shouted.

Magmortar drew his arm back and with a great swipe, he chopped his right cannon directly across the incoming attack, dissuading it. However, neither Magmortar nor Dominic anticipated Lucario sprinting in, his arms ready for physical combat.

"Jump and use Bone Rush!" Ash commanded.

With a deafening thud, Lucario's materialized Bone Rush attack connected with Magmortar's head, surprising the Pokémon momentarily. Lucario landed several feet in front of Magmortar who grunted from the pain searing through his head.

"Let me give you a piece of advice Dominic, don't even bother trying to get me to attack your Pokémon with a head on attack like Close Combat. I won't fall for it!"

Dominic who had been repeatedly surprised that Lucario was holding his own so far, looked to Ash in confusion. "Huh? You idiot! Lucario doesn't know Close Comba-!" He suddenly stopped as he remembered something.

When Lucario had rushed in to attack with Bone Rush, he had moved way too fast, too fast to justify Lucario's apparent weakness. Had Lucario learned some moves when they were separated for just one day? If so, that wasn't good. Both Extremespeed and Close Combat were capable moves in battle.

"_Darn, he knew about Magmortar's Flame Body ability,_" Dominic thought as he grit his teeth and growled at Ash's words. "No matter, Magmortar, use Solarbeam!"

The Blast Pokémon raised his cannons skyward and soon, small particles of light began to gather in both of them.

Ash growled. "_The sun's gonna make the Solarbeam charge even faster, and if we try to stop it, that gathered energy will turn it into a bomb, neither Lucario nor Magmortar would come out unharmed...,_" he thought.

Magmortar finished charging the attack and lowered his cannons. With a cry of "_Mag... Mortar!_" He fired at Lucario.

"Lucario, hit the dirt!" Ash cried as he saw the massive beam approach.

Lucario quickly dove for the ground and allowed the attack to pass over him. The forest behind him however, wasn't so lucky, and a large trail of broken trees and scorched ground was left after the attack.

"Magmortar can't move after Solarbeam, give him an Aura Sphere!"

Menacingly, Lucario began to charge the attack.

"Magmortar, when I give the signal, release that attack!" Dominic commanded.

His Magmortar dutifully turned around and nodded towards his trainer. It turned around again and gathered as much energy into his cannons as possible, ready to release it when ordered. Within seconds, both cannons contained a visible mass of white-hot flames, restrained only by Magmortar's will.

"_What!? How? That Magmortar shouldn't be able to move for a while after using an attack like Solarbeam!_" Ash thought in shock.

Dominic gave a chuckle. "That's right, after hours and hours of trainin' we perfected a brand-new ability that allows the one who possesses it to not suffer any negative effects from moves like Solarbeam or Giga Impact. I call it 'Flow Through' Since you can use the attacks in battle without sacrificin' your Pokémon's mobility. Neat, huh?" Dominic said with a cocky grin.

Ash didn't want to admit it, but coming up with your own ability was something extremely complex, something that even he hadn't managed to do, mostly because he never thought about it.

"I don't know what attack you're planning to use, Dominic, but we'll finish you off before you can use it!" Ash said. "Lucario, Aura Sphere!"

Dominic watched on the Aura Pokémon released his devastating sphere upon Magmortar. Not a split second before any it made contact, Dominic bellowed out his attack.

"Lava Plume, now!"

Ash's eyes widened in horror in response, suddenly aware of what those white-hot flames could mean for Lucario.

"Lucario, get out of there!"

Magmortar grinned and unleashed the attack an array of white-hot flames across the battlefield. Beads of sweat began dripping down Ash's forehead and Dominic's neck. When the white-hot flames dissipated, Lucario was nowhere to be found. He had disappeared from the field. Ash looked around as he tried to spot his friend. Lucario wasn't on his or Dominic's side of the battlefield, or anywhere else around the clearing, that meant there was only one place he could be. Ash looked up to see if he was right in what he was thinking. Falling from the sky, was Lucario, a great burn mark on his right leg was evident showing that he hadn't avoided the full brunt of the attack, He fell to the ground, out of control of his aerodynamics.

"Lucario! Try to recover!" Ash yelled out. "I believe in you!"

Lucario was falling very rapidly and only barely heard Ash's cry, wincing in pain at the thought of what was coming next. Dominic saw his chance at victory.

"Magmortar! When Lucario's on the ground, use Overheat, burn him to a crisp!"

Magmortar built up fiery energy in his cannons and prepared for Lucario's impact.

"Go Magmortar!" Dominic yelled. "This is it!"

Ash clenched his fists tightly, this battle was going to end if that attack hit. Ash couldn't bear seeing Lucario like this, what could he do? Suddenly, an idea came to him.

"Lucario, try to steady yourself and use Force Palm on the ground to avoid the Overheat!"

Lucario shot his eyes open as he heard Ash's words.

"_Ash hasn't given up, so I won't either!_" he thought as he put all his focus into regaining his bearings in the air.

Lucario then activated his Force Palm and took a deep breath as the ground grew closer. The rest seemed to happen in slow motion. As Lucario hit the ground with his Force Palm, Magmortar shot out the Overheat. With mere milliseconds to spare, Lucario rocketed up from the ground, which had broken underneath the power of his Force Palm. His wrists had been slightly burned but it wasn't too troublesome. Dominic groaned in frustration as he saw Lucario had avoided the attack.

"Lucario, you think it's time we wrap this up?" Ash asked.

As Lucario landed, he looked at Ash and instantly knew what he meant. He turned to Magmortar and gave him a grin that promised pain.

"Wr-Wrap this up? Don't be ridiculous, there's no way you can-" Dominic was suddenly cut off as Lucario appeared behind Magmortar, his palms glowing with energy.

"Ma-Magmortar! Turn around and use Flame-"

"This battle is over! Lucario! Force Palm Barrage!" Ash interrupted.

Lucario, using a combination of Close Combat, Extremespeed, and of course, Force Palm, hit Magmortar over and over again. Within ten seconds, Magmortar had been hit with over a hundred Force Palms. Finally, not being able to take any more punishment, Magmortar gave Lucario a look of both anger, but also a small bit of respect, before finally fainting. Dominic gaped, no, no this couldn't be happening, Lucario was a weakling, not a powerhouse that was capable of taking out not only a Pokémon that had a type advantage against him, but also his strongest Pokémon.

"_How...,_" he thought as he shook with frustration. "_How did they win?_"

Dominic's thought's ran around and around his head, until he saw a figure standing in front of him. It was Lucario.

"_Dominic...you're a monster. You are nothing but an ignorant, power-hungry jerk. You don't care about friendship or trust, and that's why, you'll never understand how Ash and I have won here today,_" Lucario explained in a low and cold voice.

He then heard something he wasn't expecting. Chuckling, Dominic was chuckling.

He took off his bag and retrieved Magmortar's pokeball, returning him with a beam of red light. He then put the pokeball back in the bag and began to fumble around for something else. Ash and Lucario looked curiously as Dominic looked for something in his bag.

"_What's he doing?_" Ash thought as he watched.

He saw Dominic retrieve something from the bag. It reflected the sunlight off of it and at a distance, Ash thought it could've been a pokeball. Dominic might be inviting Lucario back into the team. Ash knew that Lucario would refuse.

Or that's what he thought was going to happen. It wasn't until Dominic had swiftly taken the object out and pressed Lucario's back to his chest with the object at the Pokémon's throat that Ash widened his eyes in terror at what it was.

It was a survival knife.

Lucario didn't know what had happened, he was standing over Dominic at first but now he had a knife pressed up to his throat. He was still too tired after his battle to try and get away, turning him into a hostage. Lucario let out a whimper as he realized he was completely at Dominic's mercy

"Wh-What the heck to you think you're doing!?" Ash cried as he began to approach the two, Pikachu already preparing an attack.

"Careful, I'd choose your next words or actions very carefully...," Dominic warned, pressing the knife harder against Lucario, eliciting a small yelp from the Pokémon.

Ash and Pikachu growled, their hearts pounding in terror. "J-Just let Lucario go and we can talk abou-"

"Oh, you'd like that wouldn't you?"

Dominic had a nightmarish grin and a devilish glint in his eyes.

"Now, tell me if Lucario could get this strong in just one day with you, how strong are your other Pokémon?" he asked greedily.

Ash narrowed his eyes at him. "What are you saying?" he asked.

"Maybe I should revise my proposition from earlier. If you give me your Pokémon, all of them, then I won't kill Lucario here...interested?"

Ash's forehead was drenched in nervous sweat. What the heck could he do in this situation? There was nothing that came to mind. Lucario looked to Ash, not knowing what he was going to decide. Suddenly, Ash remembered something, a single trump card that could pull them out of this horrific situation.

"What, so then you'd just doom yourself and I to having an innocent Pokémon's blood on our hands?" Ash asked.

Dominic chuckled. "I literally tossed Lucario to the hounds, I think I was fine with blood on my hands back then, and that hasn't changed now," Dominic replied.

To both Dominic and Lucario's surprise, Ash smirked.

"H-Huh? What are you planning? One funny move and I'll-GUUAAH!"

Dominic was suddenly tackled off to the side, dropping the knife and separating Lucario from him. Ash quickly dashed over as Lucario began to fall to the ground and caught the Aura Pokémon in his arms.

"_A-Ash...how?_" Lucario asked weakly.

Ash chuckled in reply and turned Lucario so he could see them. Their four-legged group of saviors.

"**_Houndoom!_**" they all cried viciously as they snarled at the shocked and wounded trainer.

Lucario smiled warmly as their enemies turned comrades, stood defensively in front of him and Ash. Dominic was for the umpteenth time today, confused.

"H-Huh? What do you want me for? Lucario's right there, get him!" Dominic cried as he pointed to Lucario in Ash's arms.

However, this demand caused the Houndoom to growl even more to intimidate Dominic. Ash grinned victoriously as he watched Dominic in this position.

"They know the truth Dominic, don't cover it up, they witnessed your confession. Not only did you destroy their food stash, but you played them for fools as well, and they aren't too happy about that, right guys?" Ash asked the pack, which he got barks of approval from the canines.

"Thanks a lot by the way, for the save, I don't know what I would've done without you guys," Ash said. The leader turned back to him.

"_Doom Hound Doom Houd Oom Doom _(Don't mention it, we did owe you after all,)" he replied with a nod.

Dominic was currently trying to scoot away from this unwinnable situation he was in. He had been beaten by Lucario and now had a pack of Houndoom out for his blood.

"Oh don't worry, they won't hurt you too bad, they'll leave enough life in you to limp out of this forest and to the next town so you can get treated. And you better hope Dominic, that we never meet again," Ash warned.

One of the Houndoom then made his way behind Dominic and grabbed the back of his vest in his jaws. Dominic growled as began to be dragged away. With the other Houndoom following him, he was sure that this was not going to be a very pleasant experience. Weirdly, Dominic let out a sigh after his initial phase of frustration and then, even a small chuckle as he simply resigned to his fate. He let out one final thought before disappearing into the forest with the Houndoom.

"_And I never even asked what his name was..._"

Lucario watched as his former trainer was dragged off. A little, tiny part of him felt like he was being mean by not helping, but he also held no sympathy for the one whom had given up on him. So Lucario had done the obvious and given up on him too.

* * *

A few minutes later, Ash, Lucario and Pikachu were sitting in the center of the clearing. Ash had taken his cloak off so they could properly communicate.

"_So, what exactly happened?_" Lucario asked.

In reply, Ash looked to the ground.

"I always thought that Dominic's actions sounded kinda fishy. You don't just leave Pokémon out in the middle of the forest without having some kind of reason, one better than just simply looking for Pokémon. So when I stayed behind this morning to talk to the Houndoom, I had asked them to follow us until we found Dominic. I felt that if my hunch was right, then we may need backup. When we were about to charge in to help you, the Houndoom caught up and offered their help. And then, I decided that if we needed their assistance, then we'd need a signal. Since we didn't have much time, we just decided on the word 'doom' and the rest is pretty much history," Ash explained.

Lucario looked at Ash after his lengthy explanation. "I_ don't blame you,_" he said without warning, making Ash look up at him confused. "_For not telling me about...you know..._"

Ash's eyes widened and he stammered a little before nodding and fixing his attention to the sky.

"What I think is that Dominic is someone who believes that the ones that he deems as weak aren't even allow to breathe air. That's probably why he sent the Houndoom after you when he left you," Ash theorized. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, but I thought-"

"_I'd hate you? Come on Ash, there's no way I could hate you. You're the only reason I'm alive. Ash, I owe my life to you!_" Lucario said, smiling.

Ash smiled back at Lucario. It was now or never.

"If that's the case, then may I ask a favor of you Lucario?" Ash asked, peaking Lucario's curiosity.

_"Uh, yeah, I guess so...,_" the Aura Pokémon replied.

As Lucario answered, Ash took the bag from his back and dug into it. Lucario watched curiously and gasped when Ash took out a pokeball.

An empty one.

"Lucario, when you were with us, you gave us precious memories that we'll cherish forever. We all want to make more of those precious memories with you. We all want to laugh with you and help you grow even stronger. So I ask, do you want to come with me, be an official part of the family?" Ash asked as he held the pokeball in front of the stunned Aura Pokémon.

Lucario was gob smacked. Ash was offering him a place on his team? That would be a dream come true! He had nowhere to go after all. The choice to go with Ash practically made itself. He would feel happiness, companionship and an incredibly deep bond that would go beyond anything that he had felt before. His chest felt warm and his eyes teared up just thinking about it.

With no further hesitation, Lucario reached his paw out and tapped the button in the center. A red light engulfed Lucario, covering him in a crimson glow. The Aura Pokémon was sucked in with a smile on his face. After Lucario had been fully encapsulated, the pokeball shook in Ash's hand for a few brief seconds before letting out a light ding, signifying a successful capture.

Ash and Pikachu smiled as Lucario officially became a brand-new member of the family.

XXX

Ever since that day, Lucario had never felt more at home or in the right place. He could travel to other places and see new things without the worry of food or transport. With Ash, he received the best conditioning and seasoning any Pokémon could've asked for. There had been multiple instances on the way to Mt Corenet where Ash would trade his own life to save Lucario, instead of abandoning him and saving his own life.

Lucario, who now sat above the region below him, smiled as he saw his Pokémon comrades, his family chasing a laughing Ash who were trying to catch him in an obviously one-sided game of tag.

_"Ash, thank you. _

_For extending your hand and reaching out to me that day. _

_For giving me a shoulder to cry on. _

_For accepting my faults and enduring my own pain with me._

_Now...it's my duty to ensure...you'll never have to accept defeat._

_It's my duty to ensure that you'll always keep your head held high._

_Because..._

_Others may call you my trainer..._

_And you call me a friend…_

_But to me, you are an angel..._

_Who granted me a new life."_

END


End file.
